After Charlie Kirk's death, lawmakers across the country have made several proposals to commemorate him. On the day of Kirk's death, Donald Trump ordered government buildings and the military to fly their flags at half-staff. The following week, Congress passed a bill naming October 14, 2025, National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk. State lawmakers in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania introduced legislation to create annual holidays celebrating Kirk. Lawmakers in Arizona and Florida proposed renaming portions of state highways after Kirk. Two U.S. representatives proposed minting commemorative dollar coins with Kirk's image. Oklahoma state senators introduced legislation that would require every public college in the state to build and maintain a statue of Charlie Kirk.
In addition to these commemorative proposals, a bill introduced by U.S. Representative Derrick Van Orden would prohibit the federal government from giving any funds to organizations or local governments "that employ individuals who condone and celebrate political violence and domestic terrorism." Despite the text of the bill, Van Orden suggested that it would be used to defund cities that employ people critical of Kirk, citing cases in which employees criticized Kirk after his death but did not encourage violence.
A new YouGov poll finds that more Americans support than oppose flying the flag at half-staff for Kirk, but that majorities oppose each of the other proposed commemorations included in the poll. Americans are divided over the proposal to block funding for organizations and local governments based on their employees' speech: Most Republicans are in favor while Democrats and Independents are more likely to oppose than support it. Americans' attitudes on Kirk himself are split as well: Republicans overwhelmingly view him favorably, while Democrats and Independents are more likely to have unfavorable opinions of him than to have favorable ones. Despite these partisan divisions, the vast majority of Americans say that political violence is never justified. Vast majorities of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans all take this stance — Republicans, by the largest margin.
Majorities of Americans oppose five commemorations of Kirk, but not lowering flags
Americans are more likely to support than to oppose government buildings flying flags at half mast after Kirk's death (47% vs. 38%). However, each of the other commemorative proposals draws more opposition than support. Majorities of Americans oppose commemorating Kirk by renaming portions of state highways (50%), holding a National Day of Remembrance in 2025 (51%), minting commemorative coins (58%), creating an annual holiday (60%), and requiring all Oklahoma state colleges to build a statue of him (66%).
Each of the six proposals to commemorate Kirk has negative net support among Democrats and Independents. In other words, Democrats and Independents are more likely to oppose than to support each proposal. On the other hand, each proposal has positive net support among Republicans. In each case, Independents' average net support is closer to that of Democrats than of Republicans.
Americans are split over a bill to condition federal funds on employee speech
Americans are divided by a proposal to prohibit federal funding of organizations and local governments if any employees have made statements that condone political violence. When the proposal is presented this way, equal shares of Americans support and oppose it (42% vs. 42%). Our survey did not include any additional context surrounding the proposal, such as Representative Van Orden's threats to target certain cities if the bill were passed.
Republicans overwhelmingly support the proposal (75%), while the majority of Democrats (64%) oppose it. Independents are more evenly split, but are more likely to oppose the proposal than to support it (46% vs. 34%).
Opinions of Charlie Kirk are politically polarized
Americans' opinions of Kirk are also evenly divided: 37% of Americans view him favorably and 37% view him unfavorably, while 19% say they have neither a favorable nor an unfavorable opinion. These attitudes are highly polarized by political party. The vast majority (83%) of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Kirk, while only 4% have an unfavorable opinion. Only 5% of Democrats have a favorable opinion while 70% view him unfavorably. There is no clear majority among Independents, but the group is more likely to view Kirk unfavorably than favorably (38% vs. 24%).
Americans overwhelmingly reject political violence
Despite the politically polarized views on Kirk and on many of the proposals that have been made after his death, this survey found one thing that Americans overwhelmingly agree on: The vast majority (79%) say that it is never justified for citizens to use violence to advance political goals. Only 12% say it can sometimes be justified.
Republicans were most likely to say political violence is never justified (89%), followed by Democrats (77%) and Independents (72%). Only small minorities in each group said that violence can sometimes be justified (7% of Republicans, 15% of Democrats, and 15% of Independents). While large majorities of Americans consistently reject political violence, partisan differences on the topic can vary based on the national context.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov survey
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Methodology: This YouGov poll was conducted online on September 25 - 27, 2025 among 1,101 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (George Frey / Stringer)
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