General

Poll: Political vitriol not to blame for Arizona shooting

More than half of Americans think inflammatory conservative language not a cause

Though much of the discourse around the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has centered on whether inflammatory political language by a certain political party is to blame for the crime, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows that most Americans disagree that heated rhetoric is to blame. Of those surveyed, a 53 per cent majority dismissed the idea as an attempt to denigrate conservatives, while 35 per cent agreed there is a legitimate point to be made about how dangerous language can be. Stricter gun control laws didn’t find much support, either, with 72 per cent saying tighter controls wouldn’t have prevented the tragedy. Most of those surveyed see inflammatory language being used by both Republicans and Democrats. And the Tea Party movement gets slightly less blame than the two major parties, although the difference is too small to be statistically significant.

Daily Mail

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