About the Paper

IN TWO SENTENCES

In mid-2025, a substantial minority of Americans endorse authoritarian views; smaller minorities agree that the current federal government should rely on the military to enforce its policies and would be willing to engage in violence on behalf of the government. Large majorities of Americans reject authoritarianism and political violence.

FINDINGS IN BRIEF

• In mid-2025, a substantial minority of American adults endorse authoritarian views. For example, nearly one third (32.5%) agree at least somewhat that “having a strong leader for America is more important than having a democracy,” and 15.0% agree strongly or very strongly.
• Nearly one third (32.2%) agree at least somewhat that the current federal government “should use the military to help enforce its policies,” 9.6% agree strongly or very strongly.
• A smaller minority (13.7%) agree at least somewhat with the use of “private armed militia groups” for that purpose, and 4.4% agree strongly or very strongly.
• Between 14% and 19% agree at least somewhat that the government should arrest ordinary people and reporters who are publicly critical of its policies or the president.
• Smaller minorities are at least somewhat willing to use force themselves to support or oppose the current federal government’s enforcement of its policies (8.6% and 12.5%, respectively).
• About 10% are at least somewhat willing to use violence themselves to support or oppose the current federal government.

IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

These findings are mixed. The prevalence of support for the use of the military and private militias to enforce federal policy and for the forcible suppression of dissent is deeply concerning. Support for authoritarian views, while common, has actually decreased slightly over the fourwaves of this survey from 2022 to 2025 (see Table 5 in the report). Other experts have described actions that can be taken to prevent violence and preserve democracy. One of the most important is for the large majorities of Americans who reject authoritarianism and political violence to make their views known, to their families and friends and to the public at large.

METHODS

Findings are from Wave 4 of a nationally representative annual cohort survey, conducted online May 23 to June 13, 2025. Participants were members of the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. There were 8,248 respondents for this analysis; the completion rate among those eligible to participate was 90.0%.

Learn More

• Read the working paper on SocArXiv