A new Gallup poll finds that support for gun control is on the decline in a major way since 2012, although the question still brings out bitter partisan divides.
Only 47 percent of Americans come out in favor of gun control, a decrease of 11 percent from 58 percent in 2012. The historic low was reached in 2011, when support for stricter gun laws fell to just 43 percent. Over a third of Americans at 38 percent polled recently by Gallup said that gun regulations are fine the way they are now, but 14 percent said they should be further loosened. When divided by political affiliations, Democrats still come out on top by far for increasing gun control.
Approximately 71 percent of Democrats are interested in strict laws, though that figure itself is down from 79 percent in 2012. Liberals went from 75 percent to 67 percent. Republicans dropped from 39 percent support for stricter laws to 29 percent in 2014. Conservatives declined from 44 percent to 32 percent.
When viewed by gender, women fell from 69 percent to 55 percent, and men also eased down from 47 percent to 40 percent.
“Public demand for stricter gun sale laws is returning to levels seen throughout the past decade. After seeing a spike in support for stricter laws following the Newtown school shooting in 2012, the call for more stringent laws has settled to near-record lows. The percentage of Americans who say that handguns should not be banned is at a near-record high as well,” Gallup analysts noted.
A near record-breaking high of 73 percent of Americans believe that handguns should not be banned. Only 25 percent of Americans think that handguns should be banned for everyone, except for police and other authorized users.
Gallup conducted the survey from October 12 to 15 with a nationally representative sample of 1,017 adults. The margin of error clocked in at plus or minus 4 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence interval.
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