Americans think President Biden's speech will further divide the country
Washington D.C., September 9, 2022 - An Ipsos/Reuters poll conducted after President Joe Biden’s speech last week shows over half (59%) of Americans believe his speech will only serve to further divide the country, while 41% believe it will unite it.
About half of Americans watched, heard, or overheard something about Biden’s speech (51%) which took place in Philadelphia last week. Independents (64%) and Republicans (48%) were least likely to have followed the speech, but 35% of Democrats also didn’t. Touching upon some of the topics mentioned in Biden’s speech, only fifty-five percent of Americans believe elections in this country are fair and legitimate, while 84% say political violence is unacceptable, and 52% of Americans say that American values are under assault by Trump-led extremists. Forty-six percent of Americans say that MAGA Republicans make up the majority of the Republican party, a sentiment with which 40% of Republicans agree.
Just over half of Americans also say that those protesting election results are threatening our country’s democracy, but 46% say they are fighting to protect our freedom. Responses are split along party lines with most Democrats (74%) saying those protesting election results are threatening our country’s democracy and most Republicans (74%) saying they are fighting to protect our freedoms. Independents (67%) are also more inclined to agree that they are threatening our country’s democracy. Finally, 58% say MAGA Republicans are threatening the foundations of American democracy, and 42% say they are working to save America. On this Democrats are also far more likely to believe the former (86% say threatening the foundations of American democracy) while Republicans are more likely to believe the latter (76% say working to save America).
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between September 6-7, 2022. For this survey, a sample of 1,003 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage error and measurement error.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]
Annaleise Lohr
Director, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]
About Ipsos
Ipsos is the world’s third-largest Insights and Analytics company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.
Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts, and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions, and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers, or employees. We serve more than 5,000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.
