Poll: Nearly 4 in 10 young voters say UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing was acceptable

About four in 10 young voters think killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was acceptable, even after Luigi Mangione admitted he shot the man.

A recent Emerson College poll found 39% of likely voters ages 18 to 29 approved of Mangione’s actions. That view has hardly changed since December 2024, when 41% of voters in the same age group called the shooting acceptable, according to Emerson.

The numbers, which came as part of a poll on President Donald Trump’s approval rating and potential 2028 presidential candidates, were much lower among likely voters across age groups. Seventeen percent called the killer’s actions acceptable, while 72% said they were unacceptable. The other 11% were neutral.

Emerson asked 1,000 likely voters Aug. 16 and 17, “Do you think the actions of the killer of the United Healthcare CEO are acceptable or unacceptable?” The poll has an overall error range of plus or minus 3 percentage points, but the range was wider for some groups within the poll.

The finding for voters under 30 came from 141 people, so it doesn’t perfectly represent what every young voter thinks. However, it still shows widespread support for a killing nearly two years after it happened.

The 28-year-old Mangione pleaded guilty to two federal stalking charges last month that resulted in Thompson’s death. He admitted to following Thompson before shooting him outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024.

“No grievance, political belief, or ideological cause can justify murder,” U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said after Mangione entered the plea.

He faces up to life in federal prison. A judge will sentence him on Dec. 18.

Mangione still faces a second-degree murder charge in New York state court. That trial was supposed to start Sept. 8, but a judge put it on hold after Mangione asked the state to dismiss the case. His lawyers argue a second case would punish him twice for the same crime. State prosecutors say the charges are different under the law. That trial’s next hearing is Dec. 10.

College of DuPage criminal justice professor Eric Ramirez-Thompson told The College Fix the small shift in the poll shows “something more durable than an immediate emotional reaction to the case.”

Ramirez-Thompson has studied the way people online turned Mangione into a hero. He said the anger over denied health claims and medical debt fueled this response.

The response to Thompson’s death fits a broader trend covered by Heartlander News, which reported in April 2025 on a Network Contagion Research Institute study that warned of an online “assassination culture.” 

The study found 55.2% of people who identified as part of the political left thought killing President Donald Trump was at least somewhat justified. Support was strongest among younger people who spent much of their time online. Researchers also found posts treating Mangione like a hero.

In December 2024, Heartlander News also reported a defense fund for Mangione raised more than $50,000 from nearly 1,700 donors in the days following Thompson’s death.

Ramirez-Thompson said the country should take people’s concerns about the American healthcare system seriously, but violence isn’t the answer.

“If we normalize the violence, we create a much more dangerous social problem,” he said.