When you ask Americans in a poll whether they support universal background checks for gun purchases, huge majorities say yes.
Ask them for a specific vote for such a legal change, and that support drops off.
In recent years, there have been three true tests of this question. In Washington State and Nevada, voters said yes. In Maine, they said no. Ballot measures in all three earned a much smaller vote share than the initial polling suggested.
The results illustrate the political challenges facing the student-led activists who are marching in Washington and other cities this weekend to push for stronger gun laws. CONT.
Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times
Recent polls: Guns