41% of young voters say UnitedHealthcare CEO killing "acceptable": Poll
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
U.S. voters between the ages of 18 and 29 were more likely than their elders to accept the recent killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, new polling found.
The big picture: The reaction to Thompson's death and suspected shooter Luigi Mangione have captivated America. The event has laid bare public outrage towards the insurance industry, curiosity about Mangione's digital footprint and a blatant lack of empathy from people online.
- Most voters (68%) think the actions of the killer against Thompson were unacceptable, while 17% found them acceptable, an Emerson College poll out this week found.
- Young voters were far more split: 41% found the killer's actions acceptable, while 40% found them unacceptable, per the poll. About 24% found them "somewhat acceptable" and 17% "completely acceptable."
- Mangione, 26, was arrested in Pennsylvania last week after a days-long search for a suspect. He faces a murder charge and others in New York and other forgery, gun-related and misdemeanor charges in Pennsylvania.
State of play: After Thompson's shocking death in Manhattan on Dec. 4, social media users raged against health insurers, with posters lashing out over coverage denials and other business practices, Axios' Maya Goldman reported.
- Even before Mangione was arrested, posters hailed him as a folk hero and posted jokes and memes celebrating the suspect and his purported cause, Axios' Ivana Saric reported.
- TikTok, a top social media app for young people, was awash with comedy over the killing.
- Online storefronts also began selling merchandise, including sweatshirts, wine tumblers and hats emblazoned with words "deny," "defend" and "depose" — industry parlance found on shell casings at the crime scene.
Zoom in: The Emerson poll also found a partisan split and small gender gap among respondents.
- 22% of Democrats found the killer's actions acceptable, while 59% found them unacceptable. Among Republicans, 12% found the actions acceptable while 16% of independents said the same.
- Men (19%) found the killer's actions slightly more acceptable than women (14%).
Between the lines: Thompson's killing has unleashed a debate over the insurance industry's frequency of denying claims and how unaffordable health care has become for many Americans.
- "It's really important that we take a step back, this is not to comment and this is not to say that an act of violence is justified, but I think for anyone who is confused or shocked or appalled, they need to understand that people interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said in a recent appearance on CBS.
The bottom line: Other recent data has revealed Americans are now more likely to accept violence.
- Last year, a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey found a quarter of Americans agreed that "patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country" — the most in the nearly three years the question was asked since Donald Trump's first White House term.
Go deeper: Health care uproar sparks new legislation in Congress
Methodology: The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted between Dec. 11-13 with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
