A majority of Americans believe President Joe Biden’s speech attacking “MAGA [Make America Great Again] Republicans” was a “dangerous escalation in rhetoric,” a poll found Tuesday.
Over half of Americans, 56.8%, said the speech is dangerous rhetoric and is “designed to incite conflict amongst Americans,” the Trafalgar Group/Convention of States Action poll found. Approximately one-third of those surveyed, 35.5%, thought it was “acceptable campaign messaging” for the upcoming midterm elections.
The majority of Democrats, 70.8%, said it is acceptable for the president to say “MAGA Republicans” represent “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” Eighteen-point-seven percent of Democrats said the messaging is divisive. Nearly all Republicans, 89.1%, believed the speech to be a “dangerous escalation,” while 4.7% found it to be appropriate.
New @trafalgar_group/@COSProject #poll shows majority (56.8%) of #Americans say #Biden speech is dangerous escalation in rhetoric, designed to incite conflict.
Dangerous rhetoric:
18.7% #Dem
89.1% #GOP
62.4% #IndsReport: https://t.co/iWb5H3uOrC pic.twitter.com/S2LuWjAmtY
— The Trafalgar Group (@trafalgar_group) September 6, 2022
Among Independents, 62.4% found the speech to be dangerous rhetoric and 31.2% found it to be acceptable, the poll found.
The poll surveyed 1,084 people between Sept. 2-5 with a 2.9% margin of error.
The president gave the speech Thursday in front of Independence Hall, where he said “MAGA Republicans” pose a threat to democracy, have no respect for the rule of law, and “fan the flames of political violence.” He called on Democrats, Independents and “mainstream Republicans” to come together in an effort to defend democracy.
The remarks came after the president compared “MAGA Republicans'” philosophy to “semi-fascism” during an Aug. 25 Democratic fundraiser in Maryland. (RELATED: ‘Definition Of Fascism’: Karine Jean-Pierre Tries To Explain Why ‘MAGA Republicans’ Are Fascists)
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has repeatedly branded supporters of former President Donald Trump as an “extremist threat to our democracy” and claimed they “just don’t respect the rule of law.”
“The president thinks that there is an extremist threat to our democracy,” she said at a Wednesday briefing. “The president has been clear as he can be on that particular piece when we talk about our democracy, when we talk about our freedoms. The way that he sees the MAGA Republicans are the most energized part of the Republican Party. This is an extreme threat to our democracy, to our freedom, to our rights. They just don’t respect the rule of law.”
The press secretary said at Friday’s briefing that attacks on “MAGA Republicans” are “not political,” but rather are presidential.
“The way we see it here, and I would argue the way many Americans across the country see it, is [that] standing up for democracy is not political. Denouncing political violence is not political. Defending rights and freedoms is not political,” Jean-Pierre said. “Making clear that the challenges facing the nation is not political. We don’t call any of that political, we see that as leadership and we see that as presidential.”