I rarely start a post like this, but wow.

CBS News published a new poll today, showing that a majority of Americans believe Jared Lee Loughner’s politics were a factor in the Arizona mass murder.

(With poll questions like this, It’s always important to note: all it tells you is that a majority believes this, not whether it’s actually true.)

But another poll question has a pretty shocking response:

The poll also shows that while three in four Americans say violence against the government is never justified, 16 percent say it can be justified — the same percentage that said as much in April.

Markos Moulitsas emailed CBS and asked for the partisan breakdown of responses to that question, and this is where it gets even more disturbing:

Do you think it is ever justified for citizens to take violent action against the government, or is it never justified?

Republican 28% yes, 64% no
Democrat 11% yes, 81% no
Indepdent 11% yes, 81% no

LGF reader Killgore Trout points out that the percentage of Republicans who believe anti-government violence can be justified is about the same as the percentage of Pakistani, Indonesian and Turkish Muslims who support terrorist acts against civilians.