Three quarters of Americans fear that a wave of violence will sweep the country after the election, according to a new poll.

Forty-one per cent of registered American voters are ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ concerned about political violence after the election, and another 35 per cent are ‘somewhat’ concerned that riots could break out after Election Day, a survey published recently by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found, the Zero Hedge news portal reports.

According to the survey, 82 per cent of Americans said they were at least „somewhat” concerned about an uptick in political violence directed against election officials or political figures.

The results are not surprising as the specter of violence has hung over much of the presidential campaign following the two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump. And although President Joe Biden recently expressed confidence that the elections will be “free and fair”, he also voiced uncertainty as to whether they will be “peaceful.”

The results of the AP-NORC survey are consistent with a recent Scripps News/Ipsos poll that found

62 per cent of Americans believe that an outbreak of post-election violence is at least ‘somewhat’ likely.

More than half (51 per cent) of those polled by Scripps News/Ipsos said they would support the deployment of the US military to prevent election-related violence, including 61 per cent of Republicans. The use of the US military to quell violent unrest has become a hotly debated topic in recent weeks, after Trump said he wasn’t concerned about election-related violence, saying that if chaos were to break out, the National Guard — or even regular military units — could intervene to restore order. „I think it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen,” he said on Fox News.

The former president added that he is not worried about potential Election Day chaos being fomented by his supporters or foreign actors, but by those he labeled as „radical left-wing lunatics” and the „enemies from within”.