President Barack Obama has vowed to keep pushing for new gun control measures and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the failed gun vote in the Senate was “just the beginning.” However, the latest Reason-Rupe national poll finds just 33 percent of Americans feel the “Senate should debate and vote [...] Read more »
Americans Give Guns, Immigration Reform Low Priority
Americans put reforming immigration and reducing gun violence — the focus of much of the attention on Capitol Hill in recent weeks — at the bottom of a list of 12 priorities for Congress and the president to address. Americans instead say leaders in Washington should give highest priority to [...] Read more »
Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware
National rates of gun homicide and other violent gun crimes are strikingly lower now than during their peak in the mid-1990s, paralleling a general decline in violent crime, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data. … Nearly all the decline in the firearm homicide rate took place [...] Read more »
Americans’ Unity on Big Issues Doesn’t Bridge Partisan Gap
While the public overwhelmingly supports background checks for gun buyers and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, Americans largely retreat into their partisan camps when asked whether President Obama or Congressional Republicans will make the right decisions on those and other domestic issues facing the nation, according to the [...] Read more »
Guns and Political Suicide
… Sometimes a controversial vote will cost you your seat. But is a vote for expanded background checks, in fact, political suicide? The history of members of the House and Senate who lost re-election after casting controversial votes is complex. The causal relationship between the vote (or votes) and defeat [...] Read more »
59% of Americans unhappy about Senate gun vote
In the aftermath of last month’s Senate gun vote, during which the chamber struck down a series measures that would have expanded regulations for gun buyers and users, a majority of Americans say they’re either angry or disappointed about that votes, according to a new poll from CBS News and [...] Read more »
Searching for answers on gun bill
Many are asking how senators — elected officials, who are supposed to represent the public and are required to garner voters’ support — could so flagrantly disregard public opinion in opposing the background checks for gun buyers that some 90 percent of Americans embrace. The most common explanation rests on [...] Read more »
Americans Wanted Gun Background Checks to Pass Senate
Sixty-five percent of Americans say the U.S. Senate should have passed the measure that would have expanded background checks for gun purchases, while 29% agree with the Senate’s failure to pass the measure. [cont.] Frank Newport, Gallup Recent polls: Guns Read more »
Mixed Reactions to Senate Gun Vote
The key Senate vote that halted gun control legislation last week is drawing a mixed reaction from the American public: 47% express negative feelings about the vote while 39% have a positive reaction to the Senate’s rejection of gun control legislation that included background checks on gun purchases. Overall, 15% [...] Read more »
Senate Defeats Background Check Measure, Which 91% of Public Supports. Why?
Roughly nine in 10 Americans (91%) say they would vote for a law requiring criminal background checks for all U.S. gun purchasers. The U.S. Senate considered legislation last week that would have expanded background checks for gun purchases: 54 senators voted yes; 46 voted no. Because 60 votes were needed [...] Read more »