The latest poll by McLaughlin & Associates, on behalf of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), confirms what other recent polls have revealed. Not only do Americans, in general, support the right to keep and bear arms, they also like politicians and judges who agree with them.
The McLaughlin Poll
Earlier this month, the polling firm asked 1,000 registered voters the following questions:
How important is it to you to get judges confirmed and nominated to the federal courts who make it a priority to try their best to strictly follow the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?
More than three out of four of them said it was “important,” with 50 percent saying the issue was “very important” to them.
They asked:
How important is it to you that our political leaders in Washington DC protect and defend the 2nd Amendment rights in the U.S. Constitution of law-abiding gun owners?
Again, more than three-quarters of them agreed, with half saying it was “very important” to them.
Next question:
Do you think that President Donald Trump will make it a priority to protect and defend the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners?
More than six out of 10 said yes, while just one in six were doubtful that he would.
Then they asked:
Who do you think will do a better job of protecting the 2nd Amendment rights of gun owners in America… The Republicans in Congress or the Democrats in Congress?
Six out of 10 said the Republicans, while just a quarter thought Democrats would do a better job of defending the Second Amendment.
Finally:
Do you think Americans’ 2nd Amendment rights will be better protected with Donald Trump as President and the Republicans in control of Congress?
More than six in 10 said yes, while just 20 percent said no.
Pew Research
These poll results confirm what Pew Research Center found in July: More than four in 10 U.S. adults have at least one firearm at home. Half of Republicans told Pew that their household has at least one firearm. Surprisingly, 20 percent of Democrats admitting they also have a firearm at home. Apparently, reality trumps ideology with Democrats.
Pew also discovered that, among those who don’t presently own a firearm, most non-owner Republicans are open to the concept. Also surprisingly, four in 10 Democrats are seriously considering owning a firearm for the first time.
The Pew survey also revealed that a majority of Americans say that gun ownership “does more to increase safety than to decrease it.”
Gallup Findings
In concurrence, a recent Gallup poll affirmed that half of Americans keep a firearm at home, up from just over a third a decade ago.
Gallup also discovered that nearly eight out of 10 Americans oppose any ban on the ownership of a handgun (up from three out of four a decade ago). Those favoring a ban have dwindled further, from one in four in 2013 to just one in five presently.
They asked, “Do you think there should or should not be a ban on the manufacture, possession and sale of semi-automatic guns (known as assault rifles)?” Half of those polled said no, up from fewer than four in 10 five years ago.
These results are all the more remarkable in light of the intense warfare waged on the private ownership of firearms by the present administration: Most Americans aren’t buying the premise that bans will improve safety and reduce gun violence. An increasing number are becoming aware that the war on guns has nothing to do with public safety or reducing gun-related crime. Instead, it is part of a generations-long move to disarm all Americans.
Many remember Barack Obama’s “bitter clingers” remarks he made on the campaign trail in 2008:
You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not.
And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
The poll McLaughlin released earlier this week confirms two things: Americans cherish their right to keep and bear firearms, and they remember those who want to abolish that right.
