Given all the political drama that has saturated the nation the last few years, it should hardly come as a revelation the heated rhetoric dominating the public discourse has alarmed many Americans.

A Gallup poll released December 3 revealed a majority of voters of the nation’s two major political parties believe acerbic, inflammatory criticism and vile, cruel political language has gone too far.

Not surprisingly, voters on either side of the political spectrum are more inclined to believe the opposing party has been more extreme in spouting such rhetoric. There is also widespread consensus this rhetoric and the growing hostility that accompanies it is dramatically augmenting political violence. The poll was conducted between October 1 and 16, a few weeks after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University.

Jeffrey Jones, a Gallup employee, wrote in an analysis of the poll, “Gallup said it used questions similar to what it asked in a........

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