When protesters converged on last month’s Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, they drew attention for their opposition to Donald Trump and the GOP, demanded abortion rights, and called for immigrant protections and an end to the war in Gaza.

This type of news coverage, however, doesn’t explain who these protesters were – and what motivated them to protest. To examine who attended these events and what their participation reveals about broader trends in U.S. politics, we conducted pen-and-paper surveys of randomly selected protest participants.

In our research, we interviewed participants who were involved in one of several demonstrations – a July 15 protest led by the Coalition to March on the RNC; a July 18 march led by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR); and several smaller events organized by the People’s First Convention, Poor People’s Army, and The Cooperage.

These interviews followed the same protocol as previous surveys outside the 2016 and 2008 Republican conventions (which one of us was also involved in). This research allows us to make comparisons to these earlier demonstrations.

The 2024 protests weren’t huge

Overall, the 2024 demonstrations mobilized a few thousand protesters, although reportedly fewer than the 5,000 marchers that some organizers had forecasted. The 2016 RNC in Cleveland, by comparison, saw a somewhat larger convergence of protesters. Several groups that year staged notable rallies, including those by Shut Down Trump, Black Lives Matter, End Poverty Now, and a plethora of roving small groups. The 2008 RNC in Minneapolis-St. Paul witnessed larger protests, by some estimates as many as 10,000 people. These events were all more significant than RNC protests in Tampa in 2012 – when Hurricane Isaac disrupted the convention – and in Charlotte in 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic put a damper on protest activity.

It is hard to say exactly why the 2024 protests were smaller. But one factor could be a dispute over marching permits between the City of Milwaukee and protest organizers. Additionally, safety concerns and extra security in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump may have led some potential protesters to stay home.

Our surveys also suggest that organizers had difficulty attracting participation from the local community. Some people may have opted for other ways to signal their dissatisfaction with the GOP, like block parties.

In the 222 surveys we conducted with this year’s protest participants, 65% of respondents came from in state (Wisconsin). Surveys at the 2016 protests, in contrast, indicated that these marches more successfully galvanized locals, with about 69% coming from in state (Ohio). In 2008, in-state (Minnesota) residents made up 77% of protesters. Smaller protests in 2024 aligned with proportionately less local involvement than in recent years.

Anxiety levels continue to rise

As in 2008 and 2016, we asked respondents how often politics makes them feel certain emotions. This year, we found significant increases in emotional intensity among protesters over time. For instance, we asked respondents, “These days, how often does politics make you feel anxious?” and “These days, how often does politics make you feel enthusiastic?” Response options included “Almost always,” “Often,” “Sometimes,” “Rarely,” or “Never.”

The degree to which protesters reported anxiety rose by 8% from 2008 to 2016. Then it rose another 12% from 2016 to 2024. Similarly, reports of enthusiasm among protesters grew by 6% from 2008 to 2016 and by another 10% from 2016 to 2024.

We checked to make sure that these findings were not an artifact of the smaller protest sizes, which might have drawn more committed activists. In particular, we compared the responses of people attending larger versus smaller protests within the same year, those who were members of political organizations to those who were not, and those who came from in state to those who traveled from another state.

Our analysis showed that the increases in emotional intensity are still statistically significant even when taking these factors into account. Thus, we are confident that Republican convention protests have been drawing people who are feeling some aspects of politics more acutely in their lives. This trend may be linked to a sense of rising urgency about politics, which other studies have shown is also the case among the general public, where rising emotions provide an explanation for rising polarization.

The 2024 protests were less motivated by a desire to help Democrats

A casual observer might suspect that people turn up to protest the Republican convention because they want to try to help the Democratic Party and its candidate. This is generally not true. More often, protesters say they are interested in promoting particular issues or concerns. But protesters at the 2024 RNC were also significantly less likely to be there to help a candidate than we noted in previous years.

In 2008, about 10% of respondents said that they wanted to help a candidate (mostly Obama). That number was 14% in 2016 (mostly for Clinton). But in 2024, only about 4% said they wanted to help a candidate (mostly Biden). Instead, they were spurred on by motivations such as stopping Trump (about 21%), disrupting the Republican convention (about 20%), and concerns about particular issues (about 40%) like reproductive rights and the war in Gaza.

The road to Chicago

The geographical distance from Milwaukee to Chicago is less than 100 miles. A plurality (41%) of protesters in Milwaukee said that they were also planning to be at the Democratic National Convention, which takes place Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. Another 27% said that they were considering being there. Many people are making these plans because they have the same grievances with both parties.

Many observers expect to see larger and more vigorous protests at the Democratic convention. The war in Gaza, in particular, will likely be a considerable motivator for discontent. Milwaukee protesters with clear intentions to be in Chicago were significantly more likely than other protesters to be motivated by their dissatisfaction with the U.S. political system, their desire to make the world a better place, and their wish to disrupt both conventions.

Selin Bengi Gümrükcü is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. 

Michael T. Heaney is a lecturer in politics and research methods at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. 

Eric S. Heberlig is a professor of political science and public administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.