Polling data again and again backs up the reality that the right is abandoning decency, and doing so in the most alarming of ways. It began happening almost immediately with white evangelicals. In 2011, they were the American cohort least likely to agree that a politician could commit immoral acts in private yet “still behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public and professional life.” Yet in October 2016 — even before Trump’s upset victory over Hillary Clinton — white evangelicals had already changed their minds. They went from least likely to most likely to excuse the immoral behavior of politicians.
But that’s not the only change among Republicans. An increasing percentage are now tempted to embrace political violence. Last October, a startling 33 percent of Republicans (and an even larger 41 percent of pro-Trump Americans) agreed with the statement that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” That percentage is far higher than the (still troubling) 22 percent of independents and 13 percent of Democrats who shared the same view.
From an opinion piece by David French.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/opinion/donald-trump-culture-decline.html