To better understand the scope of threats and harassment against public officials, CivicPulse expanded our respondent pool to include state legislators and state legislative challengers. We compared these groups against municipal and county elected officials and school board members. We conducted our survey of local officials in partnership with Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative (BDI); our survey of incumbent state legislators and state legislative candidates was conducted in partnership with Nazita Lajevardi, Sandra Håkansson, Mark Brandt, and Kelsey Osborne-Garth. These surveys were fielded in July 2024 and asked respondents to reflect on the last year.
Segmenting hostile incidents over the past year by role type, we see that the rates of hostile incidents are elevated for state legislative candidates and especially incumbent state legislators. 84% of incumbent state legislators reported being insulted in the past year, 76% reported being harassed, and 44% reported having been threatened.
Our past research on hostility against local elected officials and school board officials has shown that such incidents have negative consequences for democracy. These range from reconsidering running for re-election or higher office to hesitancy to working on controversial topics. Further research is needed to better understand why state legislators may be experiencing these incidents at even higher rates.
Survey Background
The research underlying this brief was built on data from a national random sample of 405 municipal and county elected officials and 198 school board members serving local governments with a population of 1,000 or more as well as 209 incumbent state legislators and 332 state legislative challengers. Below is the question wording for the survey items used.
For each type of incident, please indicate the most recent time that you experienced it, to the best of your recollection.
Rows:
Insulted verbally, in writing, or online
Harassed verbally, in writing, or online
Threatened verbally, in writing, or online
Attacked physically
Property damage
Malicious impersonation
Response columns:
Within the last 3 months
Within the last year
More than a year ago
Never
Additional survey questions for incumbent state legislators and state legislative candidates
Are you currently a state legislator?
Yes
No
Are you currently running for office?
Yes, I am running for office.
I was running for office this year, but I lost in the primary.
No, I am not running for office.
Other (Please fill in)
Press Contact
Victoria Starbuck
Senior Research and Communications Associate
Additional Resources
For access to the underlying data for this brief, email us at info@civicpulse.org.
Since August 2022, we have conducted quarterly surveys on threats and harassment of local officials. To view the associated dashboard click here.
Additional CivicPulse research related to our Democracy and Elections Program can be found here.