America’s Complex Relationship With Guns

I would think given the failure of polling and surveys in the last presidential election with very sensitive issues regarding candidates that standard methods used on a sensitive issue as gun related - would be suspect.
 
Opinion polls may claim that 75% of gun owners and 90% of the general population support universal background checks, but these numbers are not supported by actual voting results on background check referendums. Washington state voters passed the heavily promoted Initiative 594 by just over 59% and Nevada voters approved their measure by just over 50%. Maine voters rejected their ballot measure by nearly 52%. There are probably other examples, but actual voting results by millions of voters does not approach the high level of support suggested by polling. As others have noted, the wording of the question by the polling organization is important - clearly the results are skewed.
 
Glenn E Meyer said:
I would think given the failure of polling and surveys in the last presidential election with very sensitive issues regarding candidates that standard methods used on a sensitive issue as gun related - would be suspect.
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LeverGunFan said:
Opinion polls may claim that 75% of gun owners and 90% of the general population support universal background checks, but these numbers are not supported by actual voting results on background check referendums.
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Following Sandyhook, there was a fairly long thread here about the 2d Am. rights of the mentally ill and how they might be restricted to avoid harm. This is a place in which people have mulled over these issues for some time. Even here, the sense of urgency and need for action exerted a pressure in the conversation - and it was a real conversation.

An off-the-cuff opinion collected from someone who hasn't given federal licensee checks more than a moment's thought for a poll is unlikely to represent much deeply held thought.
 
LeverGunFan said:
Opinion polls may claim that 75% of gun owners and 90% of the general population support universal background checks, but these numbers are not supported by actual voting results on background check referendums.
zukiphile said:
An off-the-cuff opinion collected from someone who hasn't given federal licensee checks more than a moment's thought for a poll is unlikely to represent much deeply held thought.
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And it's important to understand that many gun owners obtained their guns through methods other than buying them from a licensed dealer—often through inheritance, or from a family member as a gift—and many of these folks profoundly misunderstand how the NICS background check process works, and what would result if universal background checks are enacted.

I've gotten looks of stunned disbelief when I explain that someone's grandfather could no longer lend them a gun without having to visit an FFL and fill out a form first... and do it all again before they can give the gun back.
 
Washington state voters passed the heavily promoted Initiative 594 by just over 59%
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While they are technically "Washington state voters", I'd like to point out that I-594 was passed by "I-5 corridor" voters, and failed in every other part of the state. ONLY the 5 counties in the Seattle area passed it. It was voted down in every one of the 30+ counties making up the rest of the state.

However, it's a raw numbers game (in part at least) and those 5 counties had enough numbers to make I-594 law for the entire state.

Other states with similar population distributions have the same problems, over all kinds of issues. The number of people in and around major cities outvotes the combined population of the rest of the state.

And its not a new situation.
 
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