Most Americans support tougher gun control measures: Poll
The majority of Americans support stricter gun control laws but have little hope that Congress will pass such measures, according to a new poll.
The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday shows 66 percent of Americans prefer US gun laws to be tightened.
Just 28 percent said they oppose tougher gun control measures.
But voters have little optimism that Congress will act beyond the modest changes made in last month’s omnibus bill.
Just 8 percent say there is an excellent chance of stricter gun laws passing Congress in the next year or so. By comparison, a combined 61 percent say the chances of new gun laws passing Congress in the next year are fair or poor.
The vast majority of self-identified Democratic voters, 85 percent, support enacting stricter gun laws. But so do a narrow majority of Republican voters, 51 percent. Among independents, support for stricter gun laws stands at 63 percent.
Gun control is becoming increasingly polarized, especially among Republicans, pollsters note. Fifty-one percent of Republicans support stricter gun control, while 46 percent oppose it. Just 37 percent of Republicans opposed tightening restrictions on gun ownership in the same poll two weeks ago.
However, many individual policies, including instituting universal background checks and barring gun sales to people convicted of violent misdemeanors, remain widely popular among both political parties.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans gathered across the country late last month to demand tighter gun laws, led by survivors of the Florida school massacre which reignited public anger over mass shootings.
Organizers of the US marches retweeted photos from sister demonstrations as far afield as Northern Ireland, Mauritius, and Stockholm.
The protests sought to break a legislative gridlock that has long stymied efforts to increase restrictions on firearms sales in a nation where mass shootings at schools and colleges have become a frighteningly frequent occurrence.
The Florida mass shooting in February has also sparked fresh efforts to increase financial pressure on the National Rifle Association (NRA) and companies that make and sell guns.
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