What To Make Of That Poll Showing Americans Are Turning Against Gun Regulation “ A new poll by the Pew Research Center finds that “[f]or the first time in at least 20 years, significantly more Americans say it’s more important to protect the right to...

What To Make Of That Poll Showing Americans Are Turning Against Gun Regulation

A new poll by the Pew Research Center finds that “[f]or the first time in at least 20 years, significantly more Americans say it’s more important to protect the right to own guns than it’s more important to control gun ownership.” The poll finds that 52 percent of respondents say protecting this right is more important than controlling such ownership, while 46 percent take the opposite view.

The poll is consistent with a trend that can be observed across many polls, and, indeed, across other examinations of American political sentiment as well. As political scientists Matt Grossmann and David Hopkins explain, “the American electorate is symbolically conservative and operationally liberal.” When asked broad philosophical questions, most Americans align with conservative views about smaller government. Yet when asked about whether they support specific policies, the very same voters endorse liberal programs and regulations. Indeed, according to Grossmann and Hopkins, “[a] majority of the American public simultaneously endorses liberal positions on most specific policy issues while favoring conservative views on more general questions concerning the proper size and role of government.”

This dynamic plays out on issues of gun policy. Though there is little reason to doubt Pew’s finding that, at a high level of abstraction, Americans prefer robust protections for gun rights, other polls show overwhelming support for the actual gun regulations proposed by President Obama and his allies. Last July, a poll found that 92 percent of voters, including 92 percent of gun owners, support background checks for all gun sales. Yet the same polls also found that only 50 percent of the exact same respondents support “stricter gun control laws.”

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    False dichotomy
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