Majority sees Trump MAGA movement as threat to democracy: poll

A majority of Americans believe former President Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement poses a threat to democracy, according to a new Reuters-Ipsos poll. 

The new poll, published on Wednesday, found that 58 percent of respondents believe that the MAGA movement is a threat to U.S. democracy. 

One in 4 Republicans agreed that the party’s MAGA wing is a threat to democracy, while 60 percent said they don’t believe Trump’s movement represents the majority of their party, the poll said. 

The new poll comes in the wake of President Biden’s “Soul of the Nation” address last week, in which he warned that the MAGA wing of the GOP was pushing anti-democratic ideas, such as its continued claims the 2020 election was stolen. 

“Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology,” Biden said in his prime-time speech.

“But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.”

Biden faced a wave of backlash from the GOP, who said the speech was divisive and smeared half of the electorate. White House officials pushed back on criticism that Biden’s speech was political, noting that defending democracy isn’t a partisan issue.

Asked about Biden’s address, 59 percent of respondents to the Reuters-Ipsos said it will further divide the country, while nearly half of those surveyed said they didn’t watch the speech at all, the poll said. 

The Reuters-Ipsos poll surveyed 1,003 respondents (411 Democrats and 397 Republicans), with a margin of error is 4 percentage points.