Small poll suggests ‘civil war’ thoughts have risen following FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago

Following the FBI’s raid of Mar-A-Lago where they seized thousands of documents, the idea that a civil war could start has grown significantly the general public.

According to a Gallup poll that was carried out between August 20th to August 23rd, a total of 1500 US citizens were asked whether they thought a civil war could break out in the next 10 years.

43% thought that a civil war was either “very likely’ or “somewhat likely.” Of Democrats polled, 40% said a civil war was possible in the next 10 years. 54% of Republicans polled also believed that a civil war could take place.

The findings come not long after comments from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who warned of possible “riots” if former President Donald Trump is prosecuted.

“Most Republicans, including me, believes when it comes to Trump, there is no law. It’s all about getting him,” Graham said in late August. “There is a double standard when it comes to Trump … And I’ll say this, if there is a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information after the Clinton debacle … there will be riots in the street.”

Mary McCord, who is a former acting deputy attorney general, shot back at Graham’s comments, telling CNN that it was “incredibly irresponsible for an elected official to basically make veiled threats of violence, just if law enforcement and the Department of Justice … does their job.”

Saying “people are angry, they may be violent,” McCord said, showed that “what [Trump] knows and what Lindsey Graham also knows … is that people listen to that and people actually mobilise and do things.

Despite the poll results, most experts have said that a full-scale civil war comparable with the one that ran from 1861-1865 is extremely unlikely.

Rachel Kleinfeld, who is a specialist in civil conflict at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Guardian: “Countries with democracies and governments as strong as America’s do not fall into civil war. But if our institutions weaken, the story could be different.