Fifty percent (50%) of Americans believe hate is growing in America in the wake of the murders of a doctor who performed late-term abortions and a military recruiter and a shooting incident at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in which a guard was killed.

Thirty-five percent (35%) of adults disagree, saying these were isolated incidents, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of women see the incidents as a sign that hatred is increasing in this country, while men are more closely divided on the question. Married Americans are similarly divided, but adults who are not married by a 61% to 25% margin think hate is growing.

Forty-four percent (44%) of all adults say extreme political rhetoric on radio, television and the Internet leads to increased hatred in America, but 37% say that isn’t true. Nearly one-out-of-five Americans (19%) are undecided.

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Again, while 50% of women blame extreme media rhetoric for increasing hatred, men by five points disagree.

Since much of the criticism after the shooting incidents was directed at conservative talk radio and television, it’s not surprising that 52% of Democrats blame radio, TV and Internet rhetoric for increased hatred, while a plurality of Republicans (44%) feel the opposite way. Adults not affiliated with either party are almost evenly divided on the question.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of Americans said the United States should refrain from banning so-called “hate speech” in a survey a year ago. Twenty-eight percent (28%) favored banning hate speech, which is loosely defined as comments intended to put down or incite violence against people on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and other legally protected categories.

While some in Congress have proposed restoring the so-called Fairness Doctrine, just 38% of U.S. voters think that the government should require all radio stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary. Forty-seven percent (47%) oppose government-imposed political balance on radio stations.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of voters believe that with the Internet, cable networks, satellite radio, newspapers, radio and TV, it is possible for just about any political view to be heard in today’s media.

In January of this year, 70% of Americans said relations between whites and blacks are getting better.

Since Barack Obama’s election as president, blacks have been the demographic most positive about the direction the country is headed in. Last week, 79% of African-American voters said the nation is heading in the right direction.

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