\n<\/p>\n
October 20, 2025<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
U.S. Protesters Increasingly Reject Political Violence, ‘No Kings’ Survey Finds<\/p>\n
Massive marches nationwide in the U.S. marked a turn against an increasing acceptance of political violence among protesters, report sociologists<\/p>\n
By Dan Vergano edited by Jeanna Bryner<\/span><\/p>\n Protestors march along Pennsylvania Avenue during the second “No Kings” protest on October 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n Nathan Howard\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The most recent \u201cNo Kings\u201d marches across the U.S. marked a sharp turn away from protesters\u2019 acceptance of political violence, suggests one early survey by sociologists.<\/p>\n Millions of people nationwide marched on Saturday in protests of Trump administration moves they see as undermining democracy. In an early survey, sociologists found that 59 percent of protesters in Washington D.C. reported disagreement with political violence, in a turn from similar surveys at previous protests.<\/p>\n Amanda Monta\u00f1ez; Source: Dana Fisher and Arman Azedi (data)<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Marchers there were \u201cradically less supportive of political violence\u201d than those previously surveyed, says sociologist Dana Fisher of American University, whose team has surveyed four large protests since January. \u201cWe also saw fewer violent signs and many more people in costume.\u201d<\/p>\n Led by Fisher and her American University colleague, Arman Azedi, a team equipped with computer tablets and QR codes surveyed 348 marchers in the Washington, D.C., protest, which drew perhaps more than 200,000 people. In June at the No Kings protest in Philadelphia, as many as 40 percent of marchers agreed that \u201cAmericans may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,\u201d the team had found. But on Saturday in the nation\u2019s capital, only 23 percent agreed.<\/p>\n While the survey results are literally fresh off the tablets of scientists, the shift is worth noting, Fisher says. \u201cMy initial interpretation is the change in opinion is in response to the recent assassinations\u201d that were politically motivated, she says, along with headlines about violent acts committed by federal agents moving into cities. In addition, march organizers emphasized peaceful protest ahead of the event.<\/p>\n Also ahead of the march, administration officials warned of \u201cleft-wing violence\u201d associated with protests. But the Associated Press described the Saturday events as a nonviolent \u201cstreet party\u201d of marching bands, costumes and banners. A Harvard Kennedy School report released last week found that anti-Trump protests have spread more deeply into areas of the U.S. where a majority of people voted for Donald Trump in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still not seeing the students joining these crowds,\u201d says Fisher, who emphasized that more surveys of protests are needed to confirm substantive changes in U.S. public opinion. Though the survey found more young people among marchers compared to past ones, the majority were female, highly educated, white<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" October 20, 2025 2 min read U.S. Protesters Increasingly Reject Political Violence, ‘No Kings’ Survey Finds Massive marches nationwide in the U.S. marked a turn against an increasing acceptance of political violence among protesters, report sociologists By Dan Vergano edited by Jeanna Bryner Protestors march along Pennsylvania Avenue during the second “No Kings” protest on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[2040,1913,3829,1468,871,568,1388],"class_list":{"0":"post-29398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-kings","9":"tag-political","10":"tag-protesters","11":"tag-reject","12":"tag-shows","13":"tag-survey","14":"tag-violence"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/h2>\n