Most Americans apparently aren’t as worried about the heated tone of our nation’s political debate as some media pundits. A new CBS News poll shows that 57 percent of Americans don’t think that alleged Tucson killer Jared Loughner was motivated by heated political conflict,
Politico reports. A much smaller 32 percent thought he was.
Among Republicans, 69 percent say the shooting likely had nothing to do with the country’s passionate political debate, while 19 percent disagree. Even among Democrats, 49 percent see no connection between the shooting and the rhetoric, while 42 percent disagree. Among independents, 56 percent say they see no link, while 33 percent disagree.
The poll’s error margin is plus or minus 4 percentage points.