Studies show that over the past decade there's been a steady increase in threats

against public officials and in political violence like yesterday's

assassination attempt. Ali Roggan takes a closer look at how we got to this point.

Those instances of political violence also include attacks on local politicians,

members of Congress and their spouses,

and political disagreements that turn deadly.

Cynthia Miller Idris is the director of research at American University's

Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab.

Cynthia, thank you so much for being here.

This was a shocking event in a horrible tragedy

for many Americans the first time

that they've witnessed the attempted assassination

of somebody who served as president.

But of course, there have been many other acts of political

violence in recent memory, including the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul in

2022. There was the congressional baseball practice shooting that injured Congressman

Steve Scalise in 2017, plus many other attacks against local officials.

Why are we experiencing this uptick in political violence?

Well, first, I have to say it should be condemned.

Of course, we have to condemn the attack on former President Trump.

You know, one of my earliest political memories

was the assassination attempt on President Reagan.

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