Poll: 45% Say Politics Motivated Jared Loughner

CBS

Updated 6:50 p.m. Eastern Time

Forty-five percent of Americans believe that Jared Loughner's political views were "probably" a factor in the shootings in Tucson Saturday, a new CBS News poll shows. One in three say they probably were not a factor, while 22 percent say they do not know.

Loughner has not cooperated with investigators in the wake of the shooting, and evidence suggests he held muddled political views far outside the mainstream. Many partisans have nonetheless tried to link the alleged shooter to the right or left.

The poll also shows that while three in four Americans say violence against the government is never justified, 16 percent say it can be justified -- the same percentage that said as much in April. Twenty-eight percent of Republicans said such violence can be justified, compared with 11 percent of Democrats and independents. 

Special Section: Tragegy in Tucson

Americans are split on whether such an attack will happen again. Forty-five percent say a shooting like this will likely be repeated, while 47 percent say it was a random attack that will not take place again. While a majority of Republicans (55 percent) see the attack as random, fewer Democrats (45 percent) see it that way.

Americans are also split on whether members of Congress - the vast majority of whom are provided no protection while away from the Capitol - should have bodyguards. Forty-eight percent say yes, while 45 percent say no.

Roughly one in two Americans say political discourse has become less civil in the past ten years, both among all Americans and among members of Congress. Just fifteen percent say the discourse among Americans has become more civil; only nine percent see increasing civility in the discourse among members of Congress.

A portion of the poll released Tuesday morning showed that most Americans - 57 percent - do not believe the harsh political tone in Washington had anything to do with the shootings.

The poll also found that the percentage of Americans who believe gun country laws should be stricter has increased slightly to 47 percent, though most do not believe stricter laws would have prevented the shootings.

Read the Complete Poll

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This poll was conducted by telephone on January 9-10, 2011 among 673 adults nationwide who were first interviewed by CBS News December 17-20, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[Grizzleebare]

the FACTS from EVERYONE that knows this twisted Liberal is he did not pay ANY ATTENTETION to Politics! H e DID NOT LISTEN TO Talk Radio He DID NOT WATCH TV NEWS He DID NOT BLOG on Political sites. PERIOD! That is a FACT however HE DID READ THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO (LIBERAL AGENDA) AND MIEN KAMPH Hitlers SOCIALIST PROGRAMES to pacify the Communists in Germany. FREE NATIONALIZED HEALTH CARE,TAKING OVER THE EDUCATION SYSTEM,TAKING OVER RADIO AND TV LIMMITING FREE SPEECH.(THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE) iF ANYONE is to blame it would be (OBAMA) and pre NOV 2010 CONGRESS AND THE SENATE both CONTROLED by (socialist liberals)

[hamsterattack]

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[Grizzleebare]

Hamsters have tiny little brains

[thatchmo62]

Another CBS poll oversampling Democrats and Independents and they still didn't get the results they were hoping for.

[hakori]

thatchmo62, why don't you just say what you mean. Only conservative republicans should ever be polled about anything because they're the only "true" Americans.

[Amusedbyitall]

Mental illness motivated Loughner. Politics justified in his sick mind what he did.

[mbs235]

Why would you say politics entered into it at all? From statements from the few friends he had, he seems to have been not interested in politics. He carried a grudge against Giffords over an event he attended in 2007, when he asked her a bizarre question she failed to answer to his satisfaction. I'm not seeing any political aspect to the shooting at all, just the media coverage after the shooting.

[rbi149]

One party engages in unconscionably violent rhetoric, the other does not. Even if that rhetoric is not the cause of this specific incident, what are the odds that another incident will occur which IS caused by the immoral and irresponsible calls to violent action of those who support the Republican Party? If the GOP EVER refused to accept the support of those who use such inflammatory speech, they might not be so heavily scrutinized now. Their behavior is simply being exposed for what it is, un-American demagoguery. We don't need proof that it caused this incident to see that it has no place in our political dialog.

[noloyalisti]

Of course this was political, that is why it is known as the Palin Massacre.

The Republicans need violence and fear and war to justify their world view. So they are in favor of this, it is the only way they can get elected. We need to spread this around so the center and the independents are aware of this control of the argument. You know the Republicans know.

[mbs235]

What color is the sky in your world?

[Zann-Zel]

He showed up to shoot a POLITICIAN - how could his political views NOT be a factor???

[noloyalisti]

This is also NOT an isolated incident. O'Reilly had one of his listeners kill Dr. Tiller in Kansas. A Beck listener was stopped on his way to kill people at an ACLU office in CA. How about the right winger who flew his plane into the IRS building?

[hakori]

noloyalisti, and let's not forget Jim Adkisson who murdered two people in a liberal Tennesse church. He cited his hatred of "liberal valuse" as his motivation.

[Themis2]

Let's be clear: This man's actions were not politically motivated; he's not a political activist. He is a madman (clinical term) and his madness was triggered by the vitriolic rhetoric and sensationalist coverage pounded
into us 24/7 by certain media; this, as well as statements made by "leaders" that encourage paranoia, distrust of the government and a one-sided attitude in general might lead us all to lunacy.

[mbs235]

Lol, let's be clear, you have no idea what triggered this guy's madness.

[terminator63]

Another Liberal biased news poll from CBS.

[hakori]

terminator63, correction: more poll results you don't like so you accuse it of being biased.

[jimbom121]

Let's see...he attempted to assinate a congressperson. Of course it was politically motivated. But that being said, we don't know and probably won't know whether it was personal against this congresswoman or he is an anti-government nut.

People are thinking and the media is asking is he a left wing nut or a right wing nut. He seems to be an anti-government nut.

Wse will also never know if any of the rhetoric out there has anything to do with this, but it is worth having the conversation about our political discourse.