The number of deaths caused by right-wing actions in America is significantly higher than those caused by left-wing actions, according to nearly all authoritative sources on political extremism and terrorist violence in recent decades. Data and scholarly reviews consistently indicate that most ideologically motivated violence and fatalities in the US are attributed to right-wing extremism.cato+2
Right-Wing Extremism: Between 1990 and 2020, far-right extremists perpetrated approximately 523 deaths, accounting for roughly 87% of all ideologically motivated homicides in the US during that period. When factoring in the Oklahoma City bombing (168 fatalities in 1995), right-wing violence is even more dominant. Other published figures list totals for right-wing terrorist-related murders since 1975 at 391 deaths (excluding 9/11).ccjls.scholasticahq+1
Left-Wing Extremism: In the same 1990–2020 window, far-left extremists were responsible for 78 deaths, or 13% of ideological homicide deaths. Other sources covering 1975–2020 cite 65 murders committed by left-wing terrorists.cato+1
Annual Averages (excluding Oklahoma City): Right-wing deaths average about 11.5 per year, versus 2.5 per year for far-left violence over the 1990–2020 period.ccjls.scholasticahq
Other ideologies (including Islamist terrorism, largely from the 9/11 attacks) comprise a significant portion overall, but are usually categorized separately.csis+1
U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): Regularly compiled data showing right-wing attacks as the primary source of ideological deaths, with 335 right-wing to 22 left-wing deaths from the mid-1990s to 2019 (excluding major Islamist terror events).csis
Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society (Vol. 22, Issue 2): Far-right accounted for 523 deaths, far-left for 78 deaths (1990–2020).ccjls.scholasticahq
Cato Institute: Lists 391 right-wing and 65 left-wing terror murders since 1975, with methodology separating Islamist, right-wing, and left-wing affiliations.cato
ACLED, ADL reports, and Brookings further corroborate the trend but provide similar numbers in more focused or recent intervals.acleddata+2
Politico, PBS, and NPR have also covered surges and high-profile cases, confirming the broad pattern but citing official academic and government data for numbers.pbs+2
Political violence is statistically rare compared to total homicide rates in the US.cato+1
Right-wing violence sharply outweighs left-wing violence both in absolute numbers and annual averages.csis+2
Recent years have seen spikes in attacks motivated by partisan divisions, but overall numbers remain low next to general violence statistics.news.northeastern+1
Most deaths occur in mass-casualty events (like Oklahoma City or 9/11) rather than typical targeted assassinations.csis+1
CSIS "The Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States"csis
Criminology, CJ, Law & Society, Volume 22 Issue 2 PDFccjls.scholasticahq
Cato Institute Blog: "Politically Motivated Violence Is Rare in the United States"cato
Politico: "Charlie Kirk Killing: Are Political Assassinations On the Rise?"news.northeastern
ACLED data portalacleddata
Congressional hearings (ADL/COE)congress
Brookings: "Assessing the right-wing terror threat in the United States"brookings
The overwhelming majority of deaths from ideological violence since 1990 have been caused by right-wing extremists, according to the most recent and authoritative US sources.ccjls.scholasticahq+2