A new poll finds that 41% of young voters say the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was acceptable. The Emerson College poll finds the rate among 18-to-29-year-old voters was nearly twice as high as any other age group.
The poll is one of the clearest indicators yet of the backlash against the insurance industry that the killing has sparked. A plurality of young voters, 41%, found the killer’s actions acceptable, while 30-to-39-year-olds had the next highest rate at 23%.
Overall, 17% of voters say the killer’s actions were acceptable, compared to 68% who said they were unacceptable.
Police arrested 26-year-old suspect Luigi Mangione in Pennsylvania after a days-long manhunt. He now faces a murder charge in New York and other lesser charges in both New York and Pennsylvania.
Both before and after Mangione’s arrest, posters online lionized the suspect. They likened him to a folk hero and made light of the killing.
Other polls find the reaction comes as people are developing less favorable views of the healthcare system and more favorable views of violence.
A Gallup poll published earlier this month found Americans’ approval of the healthcare system fell to the lowest level in the 21st century.
Similarly, last year, a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that nearly a quarter of Americans agreed with the idea that violence may be necessary to save the United States.
