Utahns protest the actions of Donald Trump and Elon Musk outside the Utah State Capitol. April 5th, 2025. Image Credit: Mike Newbry on Unsplash
Does Generation Z have a new mindset about political violence compared to previous generations?
An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows American’s perspective about political violence has changed, and nearly 1/3 of Americans say it may be necessary to fix issues within the country.
The percentage of Americans who hold this belief grows when the statistic is focused solely on Gen Z. The NPR Politics podcast discussed the results of a recent poll on Oct. 3, 2025. The poll covered political violence, political unrest, and the different opinions between generations.
31% of Americans think political violence will be necessary to realign the country. But, when asked about specific acts like bombings and murder, the percentage drops into single digits, said the NPR podcast.
More so than older generations, people who are 45 and younger believe violence is necessary to get the country back on track. A small number of people aged 30 and below vehemently agree with this sentiment.
This data illustrates general trends, but what political violence means can differ from person to person.
For KSU student Gunnar Slocum, “Political violence is any act of aggression or outright violence, being an attack. A transgression against someone else in a harmful manner, in a physically harmful manner that would take place for the purpose of a political goal.”
“There is no form of political violence that I am okay with,” Slocum said. This Gen Z student differs in their opinion from fellow Gen Z student Seth Jordan, who said,”It’s weird, historically speaking, cause like you just read about revolution and that’s what our country was founded on, is kind of political violence, and so, under certain circumstances, it can be [acceptable].”
Both students have different degrees of acceptance of political violence; however, neither student accepts all political violence as okay.
“After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, you go on TikTok or Instagram, some people are like ‘well anyways’ and they didn’t really care and they kinda seemed apathetic to it,” Jordan said. “…I feel like I have seen a bit more of that when against someone’s point of view, they’re like ‘eh, that’s alright’ and I don’t think that’s okay.”
With this perspective on the acceptance of political violence, Jordan thinks spending less time on social media and more time reflecting on the consequences of violence could be a solution
The NPR Politics podcast discussed possible reasons why the younger generation is more accepting of political violence, listing things like school shootings, Jan. 6, assassinations, and attempted assassinations being apart of young people’s political shaping.
Witnessing these things could have made teenagers and young adults become accustomed to violence, and seeing violence consistently on the news and experiencing it could have make people more desensitized to acts of political violence specifically.
As a person who is part of Gen Z, Slocum has reached a point of not being shocked when the news covers violence in the country.
“I think unfortunately, yeah, I am a little bit used to political violence. Not on a large scale, but it is one of those things, like I’m not expecting it, but it isn’t horribly surprising,” Slocum said.
Compared to other generations, Gen Z has experienced political violence differently, and it has led to a change in their opinions of political violence as a whole.
