A) It's A Poll

New Poll: One Year After Jan. 6th, Disturbing Support for Authoritarianism https://t.co/Ycs0x5qGKG via @BulwarkOnline

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 8, 2022

So, prove it's veracity by appealing to observable phenomena that are not mere anecdotes or personal observations. IOW, a poll is as scientific as "hellifIknow, but looks good on paper!"

B) Most Trump supporters (especially) harbor delusions of authoritarianism, because they imagine they would be the authority.  God in his heaven and all's right with the world, IOW.  Ask them if they support authoritarianism that sees them as the "other," and see what response you get. Just don't call it a poll.  Collect anecdotes; they're just as reliable.

C) Most people have a preference for authoritarianism, with the same proviso.  See, e.g., the "Founding Fathers" and the form of "democratic" government they worked out.  Consider, especially, how much authority they reserved for whom.  And consider how much resistance there is, to this good day, in sharing that authority.

It's still the same old story.

Would Americans ever support a coup? 40 percent now say yes. - The Washington Post— (Absolutely horrifying anti-democracy views by a huge segment of the US population. We are headed for the edge in 2024.) https://t.co/KjGnCjXDV7

— Barry R McCaffrey (@mccaffreyr3) January 9, 2022

Because if you follow up, that same 40% will say, "If I win, right? Because otherwise...." The idea that more than 60% of the American electorate is ever, in any 2 or 4 year period, perfectly content to be on the "outs," is magical thinking. I dare say every four years 40% of the American public want a coup to restore the "natural order" they are dead certain they represent, especially if that natural order keeps non-whites in their place (are 40% of non-white Americans supportive of a coup? Wouldn't that be a more interesting, or disturbing, number?). We have historical polling numbers on approval ratings for Presidents and Congresses.  Wonder if we have historical polling numbers on the people who would support a coup at any one time, and which coup they would support?

Supporting a coup in answer to a pollster is far different from actively supporting a violent challenge to government. There’s always a percentage of the public who say the sitting President is “not my President.” That’s not exactly an opinion supportive of the democratic process. Arguably it’s supportive of a coup. 

Besides, it’s a poll. How truly valid is that 40% number?