Susan Stokes, Director of the Chicago Center on Democracy, was quoted in several articles about the one-year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol insurrection:
- “January 6 laid bare our national fissures. One year later, the day’s memories still divide us” (USA Today, 1-5-22)
- Excerpt: “‘One of my fears is not just Republicans think the last election was stolen and have been completely misled about how elections work,’ said Susan Stokes… ‘Now we have all this counteraction by Republican-led state legislatures and voter suppression measures and measures allowing them to change the count.’ With those new procedures in place, she said, ‘Democrats aren’t going to believe the election, either.'”
- “It’s time for Democrats to break the glass” (The Atlantic, 1-6-22)
- Excerpt: “Stokes said the best way to understand America’s current situation is to view the past year as a continuation of Trump’s effort to invalidate the election results and maintain power despite his defeat. ‘The big picture,’ she said, is that this is ‘a slow-motion palace coup that began after the election in 2020.'”
- “The riot and the republic” (NBC News, 1-4-22)
- Excerpt: “Susan Stokes…likens Trump’s actions to a ‘self coup,’ a term political scientists apply to autocrats who nullify elections — usually with the help of a portion of the military — to remain in power. The effort began with Trump’s deceitful election-night claim that the presidential vote was rigged against him — an assertion he made despite simultaneously declaring victory. But, Stokes said, it did not culminate with the riot on Jan. 6. ‘We’re still in the middle of it,’ she said.”
- “One year after the Capitol riot, many Americans see US democracy in peril” (Voice of America, 1-5-22)
- Excerpt: “We have a lot of people out there in the public who think that violence is justified, and a smaller number, certainly, who would actually act on that. But it doesn’t take that many people to lead to a very violent situation, and possibly a situation of armed civil conflict.”
- “La toma del Capitolio: un año después, la división se afianza en Estados Unidos” (El Comercio, 1-6-22. In Spanish)
- Excerpt: “Los eventos del 6 de enero fueron parte de un intento de golpe de Estado, un autogolpe.”
Additionally, Bright Line Watch, the multi-university initiative to monitor U.S. democracy, based at CCD, was mentioned in several articles:
- “Why many Americans might be increasingly accepting of political violence” (FiveThirtyEight, 1-6-22)
- Excerpt: “The political science project Bright Line Watch also conducted a survey on the eve of the 2020 election and found that a shocking 40 percent of Americans thought violence would be at least a little bit justified if the other party used violence first.”
- “One year after Jan. 6, American democracy remains at risk” (Rochester Beacon, 1-5-22)
- Excerpt: “A key finding in the group’s latest report, on the Bright Line Watch November 2021 surveys, is that partisan divisions over the legitimacy of the 2020 election remain profound: 94 percent of Democrats say Biden is the rightful winner versus just 26 percent of Republicans.”
- “Don’t despair about U.S. democracy — fix it” (Bloomberg, 12-23-21)
- Excerpt: “Last week, I promised a bit of optimism about U.S. democracy given the very real threats the republic is facing. I’ll repeat that no one should dismiss those threats. But the defeat of democracy is hardly a done deal.”