PROOF: Dems Back Force Against Trump

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A new survey says 44 percent of Democrats now back using force to keep President Donald Trump out of the presidency.

Quick Take

University of Chicago researcher Robert Pape reported that 44% of self-identified Democrats support using force to prevent Trump from being president.
The figure comes from his Chicago Project on Security and Threats, which has tracked this question for years.
A separate September poll found 59% of Democrats would feel positive about a military coup removing Trump.
Researchers say wording shapes results, but earlier versions of this same question found more than half of respondents meant lethal force literally.

A Number That Keeps Climbing

Pape told interviewers his latest survey found a quarter of American adults, including 44% of self-identified Democrats, now say force is justified to stop Trump from being president. That number has moved fast.

In May, Pape’s own survey put Democrat support at 39%. Back in 2024, overall backing for force tied to the election sat near 17% of all adults. Each new reading shows the same direction: up.

A quarter of American adults — including 44% of self-identified Democrats — say they support the use of force to prevent President Donald Trump from being president, according to a new survey's findings described by University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape.…

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) September 28, 2026

Pape has studied political violence for more than three decades at the University of Chicago. His surveys use a consistent phrase, asking whether “the use of force is justified” for a specific political goal, then swap in different targets to compare reactions.

That method lets him track shifts over time using the same yardstick, which is why his repeated findings carry weight even as the headline numbers shock casual readers.

Coup Support Runs Even Higher In Companion Polls

Pape’s number is not an outlier. A poll from the Center for Strategic Politics and Liberal Currents found 59% of Democrat respondents said they would feel “very positive” or “somewhat positive” if the military removed Trump and took control of the government.

The same survey found 87% would welcome impeachment and conviction instead, showing many respondents still prefer normal political tools first.

Taken together, these polls paint a picture of a Democrat base increasingly comfortable naming extreme, even unconstitutional, paths to remove a sitting president.

That comfort level, whether respondents mean it literally or as venting frustration, marks a real shift in how a major party’s voters talk about power and legitimacy.

What “Use Of Force” Actually Means To Respondents

Pape’s team has pushed respondents further to explain themselves. When his survey asked Democrats to clarify what “force” meant, 55% described assassinations or other lethal action, not protest or civil disobedience. That detail matters because it moves the conversation past abstract polling language into a specific, disturbing category of violence.

Not every researcher reads the numbers the same way. One Ohio State survey using similar wording found about 33% of Democrats agreed force was justified, but more than 57% of those respondents later said they meant it symbolically, not physically. Wording clearly shifts the count.

Still, a meaningful share of respondents in multiple surveys describe literal, lethal intent, and that core finding does not disappear just because some answers were metaphorical.

It’s reported that a quarter of American adults — including 44% of self-identified Democrats — say they support the use of force to prevent President Donald Trump from being president, according to a new survey's findings described by University of Chicago political scientist…

— Kurt Campbell (@Campy3488) September 28, 2026

Why This Trend Deserves Serious Attention

Pew Research found 85% of Americans, across both parties, believe politically motivated violence is increasing, and Democrats were more likely than Republicans to name Trump or his movement as a cause.

That shared perception of rising violence, paired with rising Democrat openness to force in these specific surveys, suggests the country is not just imagining a more dangerous political climate. It is describing one.

Conservatives have warned for years that heated rhetoric about “threats to democracy” could curdle into real justification for violence against elected leaders. These survey results give that warning hard numbers.

A president who won a lawful election faces a meaningful share of the opposing party’s voters who say force against him is acceptable. That should trouble anyone who values the peaceful transfer of power, regardless of party.