Wide divide between parties on gun politics

December 14, 2015, 2:59 PM GMT+0

The partisan divide on gun ownership even extends to gun owners themselves, as Republican gun owners are much more likely to fear government confiscation

Gun control is an issue that has divided the parties for a long time: Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to support stricter gun laws. Some of this has to do with differences in gun ownership: Republicans in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll are nearly three times as likely as Democrats to say they personally own a firearm. But gun ownership only goes so far in explaining party differences.

With only a few exceptions, gun owners are more likely to oppose limits on gun ownership. Those exceptions include preventing people with a history of mental illness from acquiring guns, and requiring a 5-day waiting period for the purchase of guns. Gun owners oppose most other legislation on limiting guns.

But there are still a large philosophical partisan difference in gun attitudes extending beyond ownership. Republican gun owners and Democratic gun owners feel quite differently about any risk there might be of the government taking away their guns; non-gun owners who are Republicans are much more likely that Democratic non-gun owners to think they would be more safe if that there were a gun in their household.

If anything, the recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have increased the gap between Democrats and Republicans who don’t own guns on this question. In August of this year, less than half of Republicans who did not own guns (42%) said they would feel safer if there was a gun in their home. That figure jumped 14 points in this poll. Meanwhile, the percentage of non-gun owning Democrats thinking that has changed relatively little.

Safety was the reason most cited by gun owners asked in August why they owned guns. And the increasing fear of terrorism, especially among Republicans, may also increase have increased the interest in owning a weapon.

However, increasing gun violence in recent years has made the public more willing to accept stricter gun laws. As in other recent Economist/YouGov polls, more than half the public would accept stricter gun laws, up from polls in earlier years.

But only a third of Republicans in this poll support making gun laws more strict. That group of Republicans is more likely to be female, less likely to describe themselves as very conservative, and less likely to say they are strong Republicans or support the goals of the Tea Party.

A third of Republicans prioritize the right of people to own guns over more protection from gun violence (a majority of Republicans think both those aims are equally important). This group overlaps with gun ownership: half of those Republicans who say the right of gun ownership should be prioritized personally own guns.

Democrats who own guns think quite differently. Nearly all of them would prioritize reducing gun violence or say that the two goals are equally important.

See the Economist/YouGov results

Economist/YouGov poll archives can be found here.