Almost two-thirds of Brits think violence is likely to erupt across the US if Donald Trump does not win the presidential election, according to a new poll.
As American voters head to the ballot box today, it’s still not clear who is mostly likely to end up clinching the seat in the White House – Trump and Kamala Harris are neck-and-neck.
But, according to pollsters at YouGov, 65% of Brits think things could turn sour if the Republican does not get re-elected – 15% said there would “definitely” be violence, while 50% said “probably”.
Just 2% of respondents were at the other end of the spectrum, saying there “definitely would not” be any violence while 12% said “probably would not”, and 21% were undecided.
Out of the Western European countries which were polled, Denmark appears to be the most concerned, with 73% respondents thinking it was likely clashes could break out.
Germany came second in the list, with 67% expecting violence closely followed by Sweden (64%), France (63%) and Spain (62%).
But this was not the case across the whole of Western Europe.
Fewer than half of the Italians polled (47%) think it could turn violent – a stat which suggests the country is even less convinced of violence than US respondents, 52% of whom are expecting at least some turbulence.
Western Europeans think violence in the US is likely if Donald Trump does not win the 2024 election
— YouGov (@YouGov) November 5, 2024
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The concerns over violence stem from the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the US legislative building in an attempted coup. More than 140 police officers were assaulted.
But the Republican nominee – who is still yet to concede that he did not win the last election – has since said “nothing” wrong was done that day.
Trump claims that he only asked his supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically” to the building.
He has also already argued that the only way Kamala Harris can win is by “cheating”.
And, when asked about the prospects of more violence at this election, Trump told journalists earlier this year: “I think we’re going to have a big victory and I think there will be no violence.”
Asked again, he said: “If we don’t win, you know, it depends.”
