Attempts to assassinate former President Donald Trump are part of a conspiracy, more than one in three American said they believe, according to a national poll released on Wednesday conducted for Newsweek.
Respondents said that they believed multiple people were involved in a wider conspiracy to attempt to assassinate Trump at rate of 36%, with 44% saying the assassination attempts were isolated acts of violence, with 20% either unsure or declining to answer.
The findings could reflect the heightened sense of distrust in U.S. institutions, according to Newsweek, especially since many of the former president's backers have often said the assassination attempts are proof of a wider effort to silence him.
His same supporters regularly cite legal challenges against him as politically motivated, and the belief in a potential conspiracy to assassinate him only adds to that narrative of victimhood.
In his own speeches, Trump has often said there are "deep state" actors, claiming that they want to see him eliminated due to his political influence, in addition to U.S. intelligence, which has briefed him on threats on his life from Iran.
The poll also asked, to what extent, if at all, are you familiar with the arrest of a man suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump on Sept. 15 in West Palm Beach, Florida?
In response to that question 38%, stated that they were "very familiar," while 11% said that they were not at all familiar.
The survey was carried out exclusively for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, and sampled a diverse group of respondents from across the country. No margin of error was given.