A majority of Americans — 54 percent — favor “stricter gun laws,” while only 42 percent do not, according to a new poll released Thursday.
The Quinnipiac University poll also discovered that 86 percent of registered voters believe those “on the government’s terrorist watch list should not be allowed to purchase guns.” Only 12 percent oppose the measure.
Universal background checks for all gun purchasers is among the most widely supported proposal, the poll finds, with 93 percent in favor of the policy and only 6 percent opposed.
“American voters clearly are worried about guns. They want to make it harder for bad people to get them and believe it can be done without penalizing legitimate gun owners,” said pollster Tim Malloy.
Democrats in Washington have made a serious push to expand gun controls, while Republicans have opposed every effort.
Among the poll’s other findings: 59 percent favor an assault weapons ban, even though only 47 percent said the ban would work and 49 percent said it “would not be effective.”
Fifty-seven percent said it’s too easy to buy a gun, and 62 percent said “expanding background checks would help reduce gun violence.”
The poll, taken between June 21 and 27, sampled 1,610 registered voters.