The survey was conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute, which describes itself as "a neutral and independent organization whose mission is to identify and forecast cyber-social threats and report on them in a timely fashion."

A total of 55 percent of leftists responding to the poll said that the use of deadly violence against their political enemies is acceptable, with 48 percent also saying it would be ok to kill Elon Musk.

Overall, from a survey of 1,300 Americans, 38 percent of respondents said it would be at least "somewhat justified" to murder President Trump, while 31 percent said the same about Elon Musk.

The poll also found that 40 percent of all respondents stated that destroying a Tesla dealership in protest would be at least "somewhat acceptable."

"Political violence targeting Donald Trump and Elon Musk is becoming increasingly normalized," the NCRI noted, adding "A broader "assassination culture" appears to be emerging within segments of the U.S. public on the extreme left."

The report states that the acceptance of violence is "underpinned by psychological and ideological factors," and that BlueSky, the leftist social media platform "plays a significant and predictive role in amplifying radical ideation."

The NCRI also notes that BlueSky "Users are increasingly associating the memeification of Luigi Mangione with calls for political violence against Musk, Trump, and others, reflecting the growing cyber-social presence of assassination culture."

The report concludes that the findings "point to disturbingly high levels of support for political violence, particularly targeting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Across survey responses, nearly one-third of respondents—and a significantly higher share of left-leaning respondents—expressed some degree of justification for acts of lethal violence."

It adds that "Unless political and cultural leadership explicitly confronts and condemns this trend, NCRI assesses a growing probability of real-world escalation. Given the current economic volatility and institutional distrust, the online normalization of political violence may increasingly translate into offline action."

"Taken together, the findings underscore the erosion of democratic norms and the growing
acceptability of political violence in American discourse, particularly among ideologically extreme communities online. Continued monitoring and broader measurement efforts are urgently needed," the report further urges.