There’s a new silent majority — and they need to be activated 

This article There’s a new silent majority — and they need to be activated  was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

Most Americans support democracy and oppose political violence. These shared values provide a foundation for organizing across the aisle to revitalize our democracy.

In November 2024, a plurality of Americans voted to bring President Trump back into office. During his campaign, he made numerous statements demonizing broad swaths of people, encouraging violence or vowing retribution for opponents. For many on the left, the election result generated a mix of despair, anger and incomprehension. Some have painted Trump’s voters with a broad brush — assuming their vote indicated support for his most extreme positions.

There are at least three reasons to believe that a vote for Trump should not be interpreted as 77 million Americans endorsing using the military to target the “enemy from within.” First, there is evidence that most Americans — liberals, conservatives and independents — agree on basic pro-democracy values. Before the election large majorities of Americans — over 80 percent —  consistently opposed political violence. Pre-election, there was also ample data suggesting a range of other values that crossed party lines, including the 90 percent of Americans who agreed that equal protection under the law, the right to vote, and freedom of speech are important to our country’s identity.

The election does not seem to have changed these views. According to a post-election survey by More in Common, openness to political violence remains relatively low, coming in at 14 percent. Most Americans also opposed Trump’s sweeping pardons for those convicted for participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Second, changes in the media landscape mean that at least some Trump voters were likely unaware of his most extreme positions. Most Americans did not receive information about the 2024 election from traditional news media. They may not have heard Trump’s vow to be a “dictator” on “day one,” while those in the conservative media ecosystem consistently heard Trump characterized as a victim who was working on their behalf.

Third, there is evidence that at least some Trump voters did not believe he would carry out his most extreme threats.

Understanding the values that many Democrats and Trump voters profess to share matters because pro-democracy liberals and conservatives will need each other in the coming years. Hate crimes and other forms of political violence increased significantly during President Trump’s first term. During his second term, America needs the broadest possible coalition to stand up for democracy and oppose political violence — a coalition that can and should include Democrats and Trump voters.

In 1969, President Richard Nixon made famous the term “silent majority.” In 2025, there is a new silent majority in American politics that — at least for now — remains committed to democracy and strongly opposes political violence.

I see the new silent majority every day in my work with The Carter Center. I lead a cross-partisan project made up of Americans volunteering their time to build trust in elections and mitigate political violence. The project’s networks — in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin — are led by Republicans and Democrats in tandem, many of them former elected officials with long records of public service. They have recruited thousands of civic leaders, including liberals, independents and conservatives. These are folks from urban and rural areas, with differences in racial, ethnic, sexual and gender identities.  

And they disagree on plenty. They disagree on abortion. They disagreed on the war in Gaza. Yet, like the rest of us in the new silent majority, they agree on basic values. Candidates who lose elections — and lose legal challenges in court — should concede gracefully. No one in public life should demonize their fellow Americans. No one should incite violence.

My work, as well as reams of survey data, make clear that there remains a robust pro-democracy majority in America. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this silent majority must be activated. Supporting certain values in the abstract is not the same as standing up for those values in practice — and American democracy has been backsliding. The University of Chicago’s Robert Pape, among others, argues persuasively that demographic change will provoke long-term backlash and violence by some American conservatives. This is not a surprising conclusion.

Much of my career has been spent working to address armed conflicts in the Middle East. That experience underscores that groups accustomed to being in charge can react very negatively — even violently — when they feel a loss of power. European scholars looking into drivers of civil wars since 1946, for instance, found that dominant groups’ loss of power significantly increases the risk of violent conflict. They noted that “a sense of unfairly lost entitlement and the lust for revenge” drive these conflicts.

These trends could drive increased violence and democratic backsliding in the future — but that should not obscure the reality in the present that most Americans share fundamental democratic values. Despite political rhetoric in recent years that increasingly demonizes our fellow Americans, only around 4 percent of the public consistently expresses support for political violence. Most Americans, including 81 percent of Democrats and 94 percent of Republicans, even share pride in being American, while being able to “acknowledge” our “country’s flaws.”

Activating the new silent majority requires at least three steps. First, you need to engage across party lines to get to know the other side and counter profound partisan misperceptions. In the November election, Republicans and Democrats alike listed inflation as their top priority. But Republicans erroneously perceived Democrats to be heavily focused on trans issues, while Democrats overestimated the extent to which Republicans prioritized immigration and abortion. With most Americans living in politically-segregated communities, finding and getting to know folks with differing political views can be challenging — but it’s still doable.

Living Room Conversations has guides for facilitating discussions on numerous topics. If you’re in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, or Wisconsin, join one of the cross-partisan networks supported by The Carter Center. Braver Angels regularly hosts cross-partisan dialogues on a range of issues. You are very unlikely to change the politics of folks who vote differently from you, but you can humanize each other and build trust.

Second, you need to think ahead about the values that matter most to you — and know what your red lines are. Should this administration carry out its more extreme threats, the data cited above indicate that most Americans — those of us in the new silent majority — will oppose these steps. But being vocal in that opposition — speaking up and taking action to defend our values — requires first ensuring that we do not engage in “anticipatory obedience.” As Tymothy Snyder notes, when democracies fray, communities can conform “instinctively” to violations of the values they otherwise profess to hold. Not doing so requires considering in advance what you and your community will do if, for example, journalists are arrested or pro-democracy nonprofits are targeted. As David French recently wrote, “We don’t know our true values until they’re tested.”

Third, activating the pro-democracy majority requires proactive planning. It is particularly important to organize across the political divide, recruiting diverse community leaders and messengers to stand up for democracy and mitigate political violence. Be intentional about working with individuals of varying backgrounds and identities, finding local leaders who have credibility in their respective communities. One example was the bipartisan campaign against neo-Nazis in Whitefish, Montana, where a range of community leaders organized nonviolently to push these groups out of their community.

Nonviolence scholar Maria Stephan has a range of recommendations for building large, diverse movements capable of countering democratic backsliding. The Horizons Project and the 22nd Century Initiative offer a guide detailing tactics to nonviolently counter the threat of political violence. Over Zero has guides for building community resilience to identity-based violence.  

None of this is meant to downplay the damage that can be done by a small minority. But we can take comfort and courage knowing that most Americans still support democracy and oppose political violence. The task before us then is to build a vocal majority, planning and organizing across the political divide to stand up for the values that so many of us share.

This article There’s a new silent majority — and they need to be activated  was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

People-powered news and analysis

Source: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/03/there-is-a-new-silent-majority-to-activate/