Despite nationwide protests, the majority of Americans'
reaction to President Barack Obama's gun control policies is mostly positive.
According to Gallup,
53 percent of Americans would want their Congressional representative to vote
in favor of Obama's proposed gun laws while 41 percent say they would like to
see their representative vote against them.
The poll was conducted Jan. 17, the day after Obama announced
23 executive orders that would require federal agencies to supply information
relevant for background checks, incentivize the sharing of background check
information, direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research
the causes and prevention of gun violence and improve gun tracking in criminal
investigations, among others. The question asked respondents about the
proposals, which in reality could be passed or rejected by the U.S. House of
Representatives and Senate on a one-by-one basis.
The question identified the gun proposals as those Obama
announced Jan. 16, and Gallup notes
the strongest support for the proposals come from Democrats and liberals while
the weakest support comes from Republicans and conservatives. Groups that
traditionally lean Democratic—nonwhites, Easterners and those with postgraduate
educations—are significantly above average in support, Gallup
noted.
Obama's gun proposals come a month after the school shooting
in Newtown, Conn.
Americans' general support for stricter gun laws surged after the shooting and
previous research has shown support fro elements of Obama's proposals,
including background checks and bans on high-capacity ammunition clips,
according to Gallup.
Gallup conducted
the poll via telephone interviews Jan. 17 with a random sample of 1,021 adults
living in the U.S.
and Washington, D.C.
The margin of error is 4 percentage points.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WBOY. All Rights Reserved.
