Attitudes Towards Extremist Organizations in the United States

Abstract

How do Americans view militant right-wing extremist organizations? We address this question using identical survey instruments that combine endorsement experiments and direct questions fielded in 2020 and 2022. Our design builds on established methodologies used to study attitudes toward militant organizations abroad. We find that consumption of right-wing media is strongly associated with less negative views of militant right-wing groups. We also document that public opinion toward these organizations became less negative over time, though the magnitude of this shift varies across groups.