Getting Priorities
Straight: House Democrats and the Public
NRA-ILA
Friday, December 21, 2018
Anti-gun organizations and their sycophants would have
you believe that the 2018 midterm elections were a referendum on gun rights.
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi “vows to fight” for
“bipartisan, common sense” gun control and announced gun control “will be a priority”
even before she had secured the Speaker’s gavel. The eagerness to curtail
Constitutional rights isn’t limited to Nancy Pelosi; Representative Mike
Thompson, head of the Democrats’ “gun violence prevention task force” and
incoming Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Representative Jerry Nadler
are both on record
confirming they’ll push gun control early next year.
As soon as they’re in power.
They claim that it’s what the American people want. So,
is it?
According to a Gallup poll
conducted earlier this month, gun control and guns rank at the very bottom of
the list of what adults say is the country’s top problem – coming in at three
percent.
That’s tied with the economy in general, unemployment,
and ethical/moral/religious decline. Only slightly behind crime and violence
(4%), and about half as highly ranked as several categories of social issues
including race relations, poverty and homelessness, and healthcare.
The top two problems facing the country, according to
adults nationwide, are government (19%) and immigration (16%). Both issues fall
under the purview of Congress and yet the next Speaker of the House couldn’t
announce the new majority’s intentions quickly enough despite a complete lack
of evidence that so-called “universal” background checks will have an effect on
crime. In fact, readers may recall one study,
lauded by anti-gun organizations and talking heads, actually found that
background checks are associated with an increase in homicides.
Of course, the model in that study was misspecified but
that hasn’t stopped anti-gunners from using it to push their agenda.
In looking at Gallup data for this year,
guns and gun control was cited by only 1% of adults as the most important
problem facing the country in October of this year. That number doubled all the
way to 2% in November, and the midterm election was right in the middle of the
November survey period. Gallup has asked the most important problem question
monthly and shared the results from June 2018 onward, and gun control has never
been higher than 4% (June 2018).
The top two specific problems every month since early
summer have been the government and immigration. Lest you believe that
this is somehow unique to Gallup, let’s take a look at some other polling data.
A Marist Poll
conducted from November 28th through December 4th of this
year found that 8% of registered voters said guns should be the top priority
for the next Congress. Immigration was the top issue (18%), followed by
the economy and jobs (17%) and health care (17%). Guns weren’t even the top
issue for Democrats, coming in tied for third with climate change. Health care
(24%) and the economy and jobs (16%) were ahead. Six percent of Independents
think guns should be the top priority, well behind the economy and jobs (18%),
health care (17%), immigration (15%), federal taxes and spending (14%), opioid
addiction (12%), and climate change (9%).
Suburban adults put four issues before guns. This is
getting repetitive, but maybe eventually Representative Pelosi will align her
priorities with the American people.
Probably not, but maybe.
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