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00:00It's the second assassination attempt on a former president in less than two months.
00:05Ever since the first, nominees have been addressing outdoor crowds from behind bulletproof screens
00:10– a sign that those seeking political office are now putting their life on the line.
00:16Most of the US's most senior elected officials have come out condemning the violence, including
00:20the president himself.
00:21Let me just say, there is no, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, those of you
00:26who know me, many of you do, no place in political violence, for political violence in America.
00:32None.
00:33Zero.
00:34Never.
00:35I've always condemned political violence, I always will in America.
00:39In America we resolve our differences peacefully at the ballot box, not at the end of a gun.
00:45But it doesn't reflect a growing reality where violent rhetoric circulates freely online,
00:50local officials receive threats or political disagreements turn deadly.
00:54The last few years have seen a succession of political attacks.
00:58House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was shot in 2017, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
01:03was almost kidnapped in 2020 and Paul Pelosi was brutally attacked in his home in 2022.
01:11Threats against lawmakers have grown tenfold since 2016 and that trend crystallised on
01:16January 6th of 2021 when a mob of protesters attacked the US Capitol.
01:22Approval for that assault has now risen among Republicans in the past three years from 21%
01:28to 30% while those strongly disapproving has dropped by almost 20 points.
01:34A poll conducted this year showed one in five Americans thought it was okay to resort to
01:39violence if it would get the country back on track.
01:43For the past few years political scientists have been looking for the root causes.
01:47A lot of their findings revolve around personality traits like aggressiveness and conditions
01:51like depression, combined with intense partisan identity and an increasingly polarised political
01:57landscape.
01:58Gun ownership also played a role with an April study finding almost half of assault-type
02:03rifle owners said political violence could be justified.
02:08Republicans and Democrats increasingly view one another as a threat and in a country where
02:12guns outnumber citizens, violence often turns deadly.