Radicals in the community: County risk and resilience to right-wing extremism in the United States

This study examines the community foundations of right-wing radicalization in the United States. Using county-level data, we compare the socio-demographic, economic, and political profiles of communities where two types of right-wing radicals originated—individuals arrested at the January 6th Capitol Insurrection and violent right-wing extremists—with those of the broader U.S. population. Although both groups differ from the national average, important variations emerge between them. Further disaggregation of the Capitol arrestees by prior extremist affiliations reveals these differences are accounted for primarily by “new” radicals. Our findings point to distinct yet evolving ecologies of radicalization and underscore the need for prevention models that readily account for heterogeneity among right-wing radicals, as well as theoretical frameworks capable of explaining their divergent roots.