Outgroups and ingroups: how support for torture and aggressive counterterrorism policies varies by extremist type

Abstract As domestic terrorism has become central to US national security, the American public has shown divided reactions to political violence. In the current context of increasing political polarization and racial tension, we draw on social identity theory to compare responses to Islamist, left-wing, and right-wing terrorism and identify moderators of those responses. Analyses of data from a 2022 national survey experiment (n = 1,300) reveal that Americans’ responses to terrorism depend heavily on who is doing the terrorizing. Whereas Americans are equally outraged by Islamist, right-wing, and left-wing terrorism, support for controversial policies varies by terrorist type, with greater support for the use of torture on Islamist terrorists. Our findings also point toward the importance of Republicanism and white nationalist sentiment. Compared to Democrats, Republicans were more supportive of policy and the use of torture targeting Islamist terrorists and less supportive of policy targeting right-wing extremists. In addition, white nationalist sentiment corresponded to increased support for aggressive counterterrorism policy and the use of torture when applied to left-wing and Islamist terrorists. As public opinion is key to the development of government policies, it is critical that policymakers recognize the role of outgroup animosity in public support of counterterrorism measures.