More than half of American voters say they are less likely to vote for lawmakers who opposed against a measure that would have strengthened background checks on gun buyers, according to the latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling.
The poll found that 51 percent of voters nationwide are less likely to support the re-election bid of one of their election officials if he voted against requiring background checks for all guns sales. A mere 14 percent said that opposition to background checks makes them more likely to support an elected official, while 28 percent said it makes no difference at all.
Those numbers are consistent with PPP’s state-level surveys, which have shown that the Senators who opposed the background check legislation could pay a political price. For example, a late-April PPP survey found that Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) had suffered a huge backlash following his “no” vote on background checks.
The latest national survey from PPP showed that a huge majority — 71 percent — support the idea of requiring background checks for all gun sales, including gun shows and the Internet.
