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Leftism lurches toward assassination culture

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Cite

Benson, G. (2026, September 26). Leftism lurches toward assassination culture. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/premium/4739563/leftism-lurches-toward-assassination-culture/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Washington Examiner · collected 2026-09-26 · by Guy Benson

Quick Summary

The article discusses a survey from September 2025 conducted by YouGov that found 25 percent of "very liberal" Americans believed violence could be justified for political goals, compared to only 3 percent of "very conservative" respondents. The piece argues this trend is part of a larger problem of increasing political violence on the Left, citing the assassination of Charlie Kirk as an example.
Written by AI on 2026-09-26, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In September 2025, shortly after Charlie Kirk's assassination, a YouGov survey found that 25 percent of self-identified "very liberal" Americans believed violence could be justified to achieve political goals. Additionally, 17 percent of liberals held the same view. In contrast, only 3 percent of very conservative and 6 percent of conservative respondents agreed with using violence for political purposes. This survey is part of a growing body of evidence suggesting an increasing trend toward violent extremism among certain groups on the left.

Written for “Political Violence Escalation” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Political Violence Escalation
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly right and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
For the Left, the issue isn’t the issue. The issue is the revolution Different event
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans strongly right Hedges 2 of 47 claims Outlet record 69/100
“The articles discuss different aspects and timeframes related to political violence on the left but do not describe the same specific incident.”
‘Civil Terrorism’ Is a Dangerous Category Error Different event
The Dispatch
Hedges 0 of 5 claims Outlet record 61/100
“The articles discuss related topics about political violence and dissent but describe different analyses and perspectives rather than a single specific incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
4
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 4 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
69/100
Washington Examiner's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-26 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Guy Benson
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 16 articles by Guy Benson →

Topics

Americans YouGov

Subjects

Americans NORP · 1× Charlie Kirk’s PERSON · 1× YouGov ORG · 1×

Narrative

One piece of evidence was a YouGov survey published in September 2025, shortly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, which found that “fully one-quarter (25 percent) of self-identified ‘very liberal’ Americans believed citizens can be justified in ‘resort[ing] to violence in order to achieve political goals.’
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-26
2026-09-26 · Washington Examiner
Leftism lurches toward assassination culture · assertive framing

Claims (4 extracted, 0 hedged)

In a lengthy piece published this past spring, we highlighted anecdotal and data-based evidence of a growing political violence problem, which currently exists disproportionately on the Left. asserted
which → publish → Left
One piece of evidence was a YouGov survey published in September 2025, shortly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, which found that “fully one-quarter (25 percent) of self-identified ‘very liberal’ Americans believed citizens can be justified in ‘resort[ing] to violence in order to achieve political goals.’ asserted
citizens → publish → goals
Seventeen percent of ‘liberals’ said the same.” asserted
percent → say → same
This stance was shared by just 3% of self-identified “very conservative” respondents and 6% of “conservative” respondents. asserted
stance → share → respondents
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