People Like Me Don't Do That: The Public's Perception of Who is a Domestic Terrorist
Faculty Mentor Information
Erika Richards, Idaho State University
Presentation Date
7-2025
Abstract
The term domestic terrorist is often thrown around like a pejorative these days. However, a cursory search for a definition of what a domestic terrorist is yields a variety of results. Therefore, it is likely that the public does not hold a consistent definition or understanding of who or what a domestic terrorist is. As such, there is often times conflict when certain groups or individuals are labeled as domestic terrorists either by law enforcement or the media. Indeed, many argue over whether those who participated in January 6th were domestic terrorists, some framing them as patriots and others framing them as traitors. Accordingly, it is imperative that we understand how the public defines and understand the term domestic terrorist. As the problem definition literature suggests, the definition of a political issue influences the policy trajectory of that issue. For instance, if the predominant definition of an issue is crisis, policymakers are more likely to act on that issue. Using a national survey of adults, this project seeks to understand how the public defines domestic terrorism and who the public thinks is more or less likely to be a domestic terrorist. Overall, the public’s perception of who is more likely to be a domestic terrorist is consistent with the stereotypes used to define international terrorists. This indicates that the public seems to have a very limited view of the breadth of domestic terrorism.
People Like Me Don't Do That: The Public's Perception of Who is a Domestic Terrorist
The term domestic terrorist is often thrown around like a pejorative these days. However, a cursory search for a definition of what a domestic terrorist is yields a variety of results. Therefore, it is likely that the public does not hold a consistent definition or understanding of who or what a domestic terrorist is. As such, there is often times conflict when certain groups or individuals are labeled as domestic terrorists either by law enforcement or the media. Indeed, many argue over whether those who participated in January 6th were domestic terrorists, some framing them as patriots and others framing them as traitors. Accordingly, it is imperative that we understand how the public defines and understand the term domestic terrorist. As the problem definition literature suggests, the definition of a political issue influences the policy trajectory of that issue. For instance, if the predominant definition of an issue is crisis, policymakers are more likely to act on that issue. Using a national survey of adults, this project seeks to understand how the public defines domestic terrorism and who the public thinks is more or less likely to be a domestic terrorist. Overall, the public’s perception of who is more likely to be a domestic terrorist is consistent with the stereotypes used to define international terrorists. This indicates that the public seems to have a very limited view of the breadth of domestic terrorism.