Support or Oppose: Raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age (February 2024)

Support or Oppose: Raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age (February 2024)

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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age."
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categoryTotal
Strongly support52%
Somewhat support21%
Somewhat oppose9%
Strongly oppose11%
Don't know/No opinion6%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." 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 support72%44%37%
Somewhat support18%12%26%
Somewhat oppose3%10%15%
Strongly oppose3%20%17%
Don't know/No opinion4%14%6%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." 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 support73%67%74%
Somewhat support16%20%17%
Somewhat oppose7%5%1%
Strongly oppose2%1%5%
Don't know/No opinion2%7%3%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." 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 support27%40%39%
Somewhat support24%27%26%
Somewhat oppose21%9%15%
Strongly oppose22%17%15%
Don't know/No opinion6%7%5%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." 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 support70%55%39%
Somewhat support19%18%24%
Somewhat oppose4%8%14%
Strongly oppose3%9%18%
Don't know/No opinion4%11%5%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." 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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CategoryLean liberalSomewhat liberalExtremely liberal
Strongly support61%69%77%
Somewhat support30%23%6%
Somewhat oppose6%5%2%
Strongly oppose1%3%4%
Don't know/No opinion2%0%10%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." 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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CategoryLean conservativeSomewhat conservativeExtremely conservative
Strongly support49%36%35%
Somewhat support20%30%20%
Somewhat oppose13%14%15%
Strongly oppose13%13%25%
Don't know/No opinion4%6%5%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." Race is calculated according to the race variable.
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CategoryWhiteBlackHispanic
Strongly support48%56%60%
Somewhat support21%24%20%
Somewhat oppose11%6%7%
Strongly oppose14%8%8%
Don't know/No opinion7%6%6%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." Gender is calculated according to the GENDER variable.
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CategoryMaleFemale
Strongly support48%57%
Somewhat support19%23%
Somewhat oppose12%7%
Strongly oppose15%7%
Don't know/No opinion6%6%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." Community type 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 support54%55%40%
Somewhat support23%21%18%
Somewhat oppose9%7%17%
Strongly oppose6%11%22%
Don't know/No opinion8%6%3%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." Age is calculated according to the AGEG variable.
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Category18-2930-4445-6465+
Strongly support45%51%54%57%
Somewhat support29%25%16%18%
Somewhat oppose12%8%8%11%
Strongly oppose10%8%13%11%
Don't know/No opinion5%8%9%3%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." Education is calculated according to the EDUC variable.
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CategoryNo HSHigh school graduateSome college2-year4-yearPost-grad
Strongly support60%53%46%46%57%57%
Somewhat support22%19%27%15%20%22%
Somewhat oppose2%13%11%8%8%6%
Strongly oppose3%10%10%22%10%7%
Don't know/No opinion13%6%6%8%5%8%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." Religiosity is calculated according to the IMPORT variable.
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CategoryExtremely importantSomewhat importantNot very importantNot at all important
Strongly support52%48%54%62%
Somewhat support19%25%20%18%
Somewhat oppose11%10%6%6%
Strongly oppose12%9%15%8%
Don't know/No opinion6%7%5%6%
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    Respondents were asked, "Do you support or oppose raising the legal age to purchase any firearm from 18 years of age to 21 years of age." Fundamentalism is calculated according to the LITERAL variable.
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CategoryThe Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word.The Bible is the word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally, word for word.The Bible is a book written by men and is not the word of God.Don't know.
Strongly support45%55%65%42%
Somewhat support24%19%19%25%
Somewhat oppose11%11%3%13%
Strongly oppose14%11%6%5%
Don't know/No opinion6%5%7%16%

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