Background Checks on All Gun Purchases (October 2019)

Background Checks on All Gun Purchases (October 2019)

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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
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categoryTotal
Strongly support61%
Somewhat support20%
Somewhat oppose7%
Strongly oppose6%
Don't know/No opinion5%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Measurement of Party ID for this figure is based on two questions. First, respondents were asked whether they consider themselves to be a Democrats, Republicans, independents, other, or not sure. Those who responded that they are independents or "other" were then asked if they lean toward either the Democrats or Republicans. If they indicated that they lean toward one party or the other, they are considered Democrats or Republicans for the purposes of this figure. Only "pure" independents or members of a third party who indicate that they have no preference for Democrats vis-a-vis Republicans are considered independents . Respondents who answered that they are "not sure" for either of the two aforementioned questions are not incorporated into this figure.
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categoryDemocratIndependentRepublican
Strongly support84%52%44%
Somewhat support9%21%31%
Somewhat oppose2%9%11%
Strongly oppose1%9%10%
Don't know/No opinion4%9%5%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Party identification is calculated according to the PID7 variable, a seven point scale of party identification.
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categoryLean DemocratNot very strong DemocratStrong Democrat
Strongly support80%83%87%
Somewhat support11%9%8%
Somewhat oppose3%0%1%
Strongly oppose2%0%1%
Don't know/No opinion3%7%3%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Party identification is calculated according to the PID7 variable, a seven point scale of party identification.
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categoryLean RepublicanNot very strong RepublicanStrong Republican
Strongly support39%50%44%
Somewhat support30%29%32%
Somewhat oppose15%11%9%
Strongly oppose10%1%12%
Don't know/No opinion6%9%4%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Ideology is measured on a scale of 1-7, with 1 corresponding to "extremely liberal", 7 corresponding to "extremely conservative, and 4 corresponding to "in the middle." For the purposes of this table, respondents who placed themselves at or between points 1 and 3 on the scale are considered "liberal," respondents who placed themselves at point 4 on the scale are considered "moderate," and respondents who placed themselves at or between points 5 and 7 on the scale are considered conservative.
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categoryLiberalsModeratesConservatives
Strongly support84%64%46%
Somewhat support8%17%29%
Somewhat oppose2%6%10%
Strongly oppose3%3%10%
Don't know/No opinion2%10%4%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    The ideology measure is based on respondent self-placement in response to the following question: "On a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is extremely liberal, 7 is extremely conservative, and 4 is exactly in the middle, where would you place yourself?" The placements are further classified such that 1 is extremely liberal, 2 is very liberal, 3 is somewhat liberal, 4 is moderate, 5 is somewhat conservative, 6 is very conservative, and 7 is extremely conservative.
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categoryLeaning liberalSomewhat liberalExtremely liberal
Strongly support84%83%86%
Somewhat support8%8%9%
Somewhat oppose4%2%1%
Strongly oppose1%5%2%
Don't know/No opinion3%2%2%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    The ideology measure is based on respondent self-placement in response to the following question: "On a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is extremely liberal, 7 is extremely conservative, and 4 is exactly in the middle, where would you place yourself?" The placements are further classified such that 1 is extremely liberal, 2 is very liberal, 3 is somewhat liberal, 4 is moderate, 5 is somewhat conservative, 6 is very conservative, and 7 is extremely conservative.
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categoryLeaning conservativeSomewhat conservativeExtremely conservative
Strongly support56%42%46%
Somewhat support29%34%24%
Somewhat oppose8%10%12%
Strongly oppose3%8%15%
Don't know/No opinion5%6%3%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Race is calculated according to the race variable.
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categoryWhiteBlackHispanic
Strongly support56%77%66%
Somewhat support23%11%20%
Somewhat oppose9%3%3%
Strongly oppose8%2%3%
Don't know/No opinion4%7%7%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Gender is calculated according to the GENDER variable.
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categoryMaleFemale
Strongly support56%66%
Somewhat support23%18%
Somewhat oppose9%5%
Strongly oppose10%3%
Don't know/No opinion2%8%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Community is based on the following question, " Would you say that you live in an urban, suburban, or rural community?"
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categoryUrbanSuburbanRural
Strongly support70%60%50%
Somewhat support16%22%24%
Somewhat oppose4%7%11%
Strongly oppose4%6%11%
Don't know/No opinion6%5%4%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Age is calculated according to the AGEG variable.
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category18-2930-4445-6465+
Strongly support60%64%61%61%
Somewhat support25%15%21%23%
Somewhat oppose6%6%8%6%
Strongly oppose2%7%7%7%
Don't know/No opinion6%9%3%4%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?"
    Education is calculated according to the EDUC variable.
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categoryNo high schoolHigh school graduateSome college2-year4-yearPost-grad
Strongly support59%64%61%65%57%63%
Somewhat support15%18%23%21%22%19%
Somewhat oppose2%9%5%5%9%4%
Strongly oppose9%5%7%5%6%8%
Don't know/No opinion16%4%4%4%6%5%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?" Religiosity is calculated according to the IMPORT variable.
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categoryExtremely importantSomewhat importantNot very importantNot at all important
Strongly support61%60%66%61%
Somewhat support19%21%18%24%
Somewhat oppose8%7%8%2%
Strongly oppose6%6%3%8%
Don't know/No opinion5%6%4%5%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including gun shows and private sales?" Fundamentalism is calculated according to the LITERAL variable.
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categoryThe Bible is the word of God, to be taken literallyThe Bible is the word of God, not to be taken literallyThe Bible is a book written by men
Strongly support59%58%71%
Somewhat support21%23%18%
Somewhat oppose9%9%2%
Strongly oppose6%7%6%
Don't know/No opinion5%3%2%

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