Support for tighter gun control laws increased 9 percentage points after the Orlando terror attack, and support for background checks and other measures being debated in the Senate hovered around 90%, according to CNN/ORC poll released Monday.
The support for tougher gun laws rose to 55% in the newest poll — the highest number since just one month after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, in January 2013.
But support for specific gun control measures was very strong, with 92% saying they wanted expanded background checks, 87% supporting a ban for felons or people with mental health problems and 85% saying they would ban people on federal watchlists from buying guns. Among Republicans, that number is even higher — 90% say they favor preventing people on the terror watch list or “no fly” list from buying a gun. That number is at 85% for Democrats.
Versions of those proposals are being taken up in the Senate Monday evening — but are all expected to fail along mostly party-line votes.
However, stricter gun control measures, like banning assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition clips, only won the support of 54% of respondents.
Widespread support for tougher gun laws also increased after the massacre in Charleston last summer to 49%, but by the fall it had dropped slightly to 46%.
A large share of people (67%) said in January that they support executive action on guns from President Barack Obama, but a large number, almost 6 in 10, also said they did not think those changes would curb gun violence.
The latest CNN/ORC poll also found that a stark partisan divide on the issue remains — with 78% of Democrats supporting tougher laws, 29% of Republicans supporting tougher laws and independents almost evenly split (53% support tougher laws.)
Pollsters queried 1,001 adults between June 16 and June 19 and most results carry a plus-or-minus 3 percentage point margin of error.
