50% of Americans believe in impending civil war in next several years, survey finds

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As January 6 Capitol Attack hearings were broadcast across the nation Thursday night, a new report by UC Davis shows the divide in America may be even greater than thought.

The study found that just over 50% of Americans believe "that in the next several years, there will be a civil war in the United States."

"It's definitely a crazy time in our country right now and I don't think we've seen such division in sometime," said Kareen Knowles of Livermore.

There was even a tense moment at this town hall meeting, one held by Congressman Eric Swalwell in Livermore, when a woman in the crowd who was upset over California COVID and vaccination policies, refused to give up the microphone.

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Many in attendance frustrated by the division.

"I just think we as Americans just need to get our heads out of the sand, and people start back being human to one another that's all," said Purnell Cook of Livermore.

We asked Rep. Swalwell about that divide and if the capitol hearings could bring more division.

"It does hurt to see that Americans are so pessimistic about where we are right now, that they would believe we would come to that," said Swalwell. When talking about that division and the capitol attack he said, "To bring the country together we need to understand just how close we came to losing our democracy. Overwhelmingly what we see right now, I believe is a country that wants to have their vote counted, and does not endorse violence as a means of resolving disputes in politics."

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Dr. Garen Wintemute is the lead author of the UC Davis report and spoke to us after evaluating some of the findings.

"It's very clear that there are people who feel they are being left behind as our society changes, frankly at both ends of the political spectrum," said Dr. Wintemute.

The biggest cheers at this town hall came when Swalwell talked about safety and gun control. Every person we spoke with said safety was their main concern going forward.

The UC Davis report can be found here.

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