Less than a month after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13, Americans expressed skepticism about the United States Secret Service’s ability to protect presidential candidates. According to a new poll published by AP-NORC on Friday, Aug. 2, only three of 10 U.S. adults have high confidence in the agency’s ability to keep presidential candidates safe.
The poll also found that when it comes to what’s to blame for the attempt on Trump’s life, Americans do not let the agency totally off the hook. More than 70% of those surveyed said that the Secret Service bears moderate responsibility for the attack.
However, not all blame is directed at the agency. More than three quarters of Americans blame political divisions in the country for the violence at the Trump rally last month. Additionally, nearly 60% said that both the availability of guns and the media were to blame for the attack.
Breaking it down further, half of those polled said that political divisions bear a “great deal” of responsibility for the attempted assassination of Trump. When it was broken down along political lines, 60% of Democrats pointed to gun accessibility for the attack, and half of Republicans faulted the Secret Service.
In the wake of the attempt on Trump’s life at the Pennsylvania rally, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned and admitted that the incident was the “most significant operational failure” for the agency in “decades.”
New Acting Director Ronald Rowe said that he was ashamed and called it “indefensible” that the roof used by the gunman was not secured, during testimony to U.S. Congress.
Meanwhile, the poll also revealed skepticism over the ongoing investigation into the shooting. Only one-third of Americans were extremely confident or very confident in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducting a full and fair investigation.
