Polling Comes as President Trump has Indicated Support for Both Background Checks and Red Flag Laws, Which Allow Families and Law Enforcement to Ask a Judge to Temporarily Suspend a Person’s Access to Guns if There Are Clear Signs That Person Poses a Serious Threat to Themselves Or Others
NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statement today in response to new polling by Fox News, conducted jointly by a Republican and a Democratic pollster, showing high support for gun safety measures like background checks and Red Flag laws and a net negative rating for the NRA.
“The NRA is underwater because their extreme agenda has put them out of touch with the political mainstream,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “The time is now for the Senate to say no to the fringe NRA and yes to the American people on gun safety.”
The poll, which was conducted about a week after the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, shows that 47 percent of registered voters have an unfavorable view of the NRA, the first time the gun rights lobby group has had a net negative rating in Fox polling. The NRA’s favorability rating of 42 percent is the lowest in a Fox News poll since at least 2000, shortly after the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.
The survey interviewed 1,013 registered voters and found, among other results:
- Background checks on all gun sales are favored by 92 percent of Democrats, 89 percent of Republicans, and 93 percent of gun-owning households.
- Eighty-eight percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Republicans favor Red Flag laws, as do voters in 77 percent of gun-owning households.
- 56 percent of gun-owning households have a positive view of the NRA, down from 67 percent the year before.
This dwindling support for the NRA comes as the group is riddled in PR scandals, allegations of financial wrongdoing, and has an agenda that’s wholly out of touch with the American people. This polling should serve as further proof it is time for Majority Leader McConnell and the Senate to say no the NRA and yes to the American people on gun safety.