A new study by More in Common shows Americans badly misunderstand how much political violence their opponents support. After Charlie Kirk was killed in September 2025, researchers found people think the other political party supports violence way more than they actually do. Democrats think 47% of Republicans support violence against Democrats, but only 13% really do.
Even worse, only 3.5% of Democrats and 2.4% of Republicans would support throwing rocks at protesters from the other side. But 40% of people from both parties think the other side would support this - that's ten times higher than reality. Social media makes this problem worse by showing the most extreme voices instead of normal people.
The study found that 85% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats believe in free speech for everyone, but each side thinks only half the other party believes this. These wrong ideas create a dangerous cycle where people get angry about threats that don't really exist. The research shows most Americans actually share the same basic democratic values, but social media and extreme voices make us think we're more divided than we are.