Rasmussen has been doing polls for a very long time, and the company is good at it, which is why Insider pays attention to the results.
The survey, taken Dec. 17-19 (just days after the school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin), also revealed what one might expect according to party affiliation. A whopping 77% of Democrats “believe stricter gun control laws would help prevent shootings.” This opinion is shared by only 31% of Republicans and 40% of Independents. By no surprise, 49% of Democrats say, “passing new gun control laws would do more to reduce gun violence,” but only 18% of Republicans and 24% of Independents share that view.
On the other hand, 66% of Republicans and 59% of Independents believe stricter enforcement of existing laws would be more effective, while 45% of Democrats concur. Overall, 56% of those “likely voters” say enforcement of current laws “would do more,” while only 31% think passing new laws is the solution. Curiously, 13% aren’t sure one way or the other.
Among those who blame mental health, 47% are Republicans, 41% are Independents and 34% are Democrats. Among the minority who blame guns, 41% are Democrats, 9% are Republicans and 27% are Independents.
Insider brings all of this up now because state legislatures have been in session for at least a couple of weeks in most places, and it’s a cinch the gun control crowd is already working on schemes to ratchet down on gun rights as this year’s soup du jour solution to mass shootings. If they aren’t using the December school shooting in Madison, they’re exploiting some other bit of mayhem.
The poll contacted 1,099 likely voters and had a margin of sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points.
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