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Recent events have updated me towards thinking that a decent fraction of Americans (10-40%?) will rationalize and go along with ~anything the current admin does. My more general takeaway is that worryingly many humans are cognitively set up to fall for an authoritarian even in a modern western cultural context.
I'm also getting worried that the current admin expects to succeed at ending free elections, given how they keep doubling down on stuff that seems like it will play terribly with a majority of voters.
My only surprise is that this is surprising in any way. I'd put the numbers at:
20-30 percent will actively support most things the current leadership does
30-40 percent will go along with it, even if they don't particularly like it
10-20 percent will complain about the worst disagreements, but not take significant action that puts their lifestyle at risk.
2-10 percent will do anything beyond attending a protest (like moving their person or assets to a different jurisdiction, or changing jobs or running for opposing office)
I think maybe the "even" in this sentence is backwards. The modern context of tribal polarization and filter-bubbles makes people more likely to fall for authoritarians than many other contexts. (Though I still think that the western cultural context is more robust to authoritarianism than, say, North Korea.)