Nearly half of young Americans believe the murder of the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was justified, according to a new poll. 

The poll conducted by Generation Lab and released Thursday, surveyed 1,026 college students from December 19-23 to gauge their sentiment surrounding the murder of Thompson. Luigi Mangione, 26, has been charged in the killing. Since his arrest, he has become something of a folk hero in some corners of the internet, with a range of merchandise celebrating his alleged actions being sold online and some people calling for his release. 

Forty-eight percent of respondents said the murder was “totally” or “somewhat” justified, while 52 percent said it was not, the poll found.

The survey, which has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points, also showed that 81 percent of respondents have an extremely or somewhat negative view of the victim. By contrast, far fewer, 50 percent of the students, said they had a somewhat or extremely negative view of his alleged killer.

On the question of whom they sympathize with more, 45 percent said Mr. Mangione, and just 17 percent said Thompson, according to Generation Lab. 

Thompson was murdered at bustling midtown Manhattan shortly before 7 a.m. on December 4. Footage showed a gunman emerge from behind a parked vehicle and shoot the health insurance executive multiple times in the back before fleeing the scene. 

Sources told news outlets that investigators recovered bullet cases with the words “delay” and “depose” written on them at the crime scene. The disclosure of the words sparked speculation that they referred to a popular phrase in the healthcare insurance industry, “delay, deny, defend,” when companies deny claims, which some commentators and analysts suggested could point to a motive.

After a six-day manhunt, police detained Mr. Mangione at a McDonald’s at Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a customer recognized him from posters identifying him as a person of interest in the murder of Thompson. 

Law enforcement said they found a gun that was believed to be similar to the one used in the killing and multiple fake IDs in his possession at the time he was arrested. He was initially charged with firearms charges by police in Pennsylvania, and the New York Police Department charged him with the murder of Thompson. 

He has pleaded not guilty in the case. 

Following Mr. Mangione’s arrest, online sleuths quickly went to work, trying to piece together details of his life and discovered his Ivy League education as well as his wealthy upbringing. Police said the suspect appeared to have “anti-capitalist” views and an “ill-will” toward corporate America. 

His Goodreads profile shows that he liked quotes from a variety of individuals, from Socrates to the “Unabomber,” Ted Kaczynski. He left a four-star comment on Kaczynski’s manifesto on Goodreads and called the Unabomber an “extreme political revolutionary,” not a “crazy luddite.” He also wrote, “When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive.”

As details of his apparently left-wing ideology and pictures of him smiling and seeming to be in good physical condition emerged, he became something of an icon in some dark corners of the internet. 

On the social media platform X, the phrase “FREE HIM” trended. And on online retailers such as Etsy and eBay, there was an explosion of merchandise with the words “deny, defend, depose,” or words of praise for Mr. Mangione. One shirt that was seen for sale on TikTok declared, “In this house Luigi Mangione is a hero. End of story.”

While Mr. Mangione was treated as a kind of hero online, users mocked Thompson’s death and expressed frustration with America’s healthcare system. Users flooded a Facebook post by the UnitedHealth Group about Thompson’s murder with more than 42,000 laughing reactions. The company later restricted who could comment on its posts. And on X, one user wrote, “The bullet hit the CEO outside of his allotted benefit window, so he’s not eligible for emergency treatment.”