An assassination attempt on a president. The murder of a state lawmaker in her home. A political activist shot and killed in broad daylight while giving a speech. A new national poll has just put a number on the feeling of dread that has been growing in the pit of the nation’s stomach: a vast, bipartisan majority of Americans now believe our country is in a political crisis.
This is not a story about poll numbers. It is a story about the American people themselves recognizing that our nation is at a constitutional breaking point. It is a sobering verdict on our collective failure to uphold one of the most basic promises of our republic: to live together in a state of domestic tranquility.
A Rare and Terrible Bipartisan Consensus
The findings of the new Quinnipiac University poll, taken in the days following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, are stunning. A full 79% of American voters believe the nation is in a political crisis. This is not a partisan finding; it is a moment of rare and terrible national unity.
An overwhelming 93% of Democrats, 84% of independents, and even 60% of Republicans share this belief. Furthermore, 71% of all voters now view politically motivated violence as a “very serious problem” – a dramatic 17-point jump since June.
The Framers’ Nightmare: The “Violence of Faction”
Our current crisis is not a new phenomenon; it is the realization of the founding fathers’ single greatest fear. James Madison, in the famed Federalist No. 10, warned that the most dangerous “mortal disease” of a popular government is its “propensity to break and control the violence of faction.”
Madison and the other framers knew that a free society would always have deep and passionate disagreements. They designed our entire constitutional system of checks and balances to channel those disagreements into a process of peaceful debate and compromise. The recent wave of political assassinations and attempted killings is the ultimate and most terrifying expression of that system failing.
A Failure to “Insure Domestic Tranquility”
The very first sentence of our Constitution, the Preamble, lists six core purposes for the new government it was creating. The second among them is the solemn duty to “insure domestic Tranquility.”
This new poll is a direct and damning report card on our collective failure to achieve that foundational goal. When over 70% of the population sees political violence as a very serious problem, and a majority (54%) believes it will get worse in the coming years, we are failing one of the most basic tests of a constitutional government.
The poll is more than a snapshot of public opinion; it is a national cry of alarm. It is a reflection of a nation that is losing faith in its own ability to self-govern without resorting to violence. The constitutional crisis is not just in our politics; it is now in the hearts and minds of the American people, who are no longer certain that we can keep the republic we were given.