However, there was also strong support from respondents for background checks as well as limiting the sale of automatic weapons and keeping guns out of churches, stores and workplaces.
The online survey showed that 68 percent, or two out of three respondents, had a favorable opinion of the NRA, which starts its annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday.
Eighty-two percent of Republicans saw the gun lobbying group in a positive light as well as 55 percent of Democrats, findings that run counter to the perception of Democrats as anti-NRA.
Most of the 1,922 people surveyed nationwide from April Monday through Thursday said they supported laws that allow Americans to use deadly force to protect themselves from danger in their own home or in a public place.
"Americans do hold to this idea that people should be allowed to defend themselves and using deadly force is fine, in those circumstances," said pollster Chris Jackson. "In the theoretical ... there's a certain tolerance of vigilantism."
The poll was conducted amid a nationwide debate over gun rights and race after the Florida shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood crime watch volunteer who is white and Hispanic.
Trayvon Martin case coverage
The poll results were welcomed by the NRA, which is one of the most powerful lobby groups in the country and regularly clashes with anti-gun groups and often with Democrats as it seeks to protect and expand gun rights across the United States.
"Regardless of how others try to distort our position, the general public knows where we stand," said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. "It shows the failure of the continuing efforts of many to try and discredit the National Rifle Association."
Mitt Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, spoke to the convention on Friday, vowing to reverse what he calls the restrictive gun policies of President Barack Obama's administration.
"We need a president who will stand up for the rights of hunters, sportsmen, and those seeking to protect their homes and their families," he said. "President Obama has not. I will."
Eighty-seven percent of respondents -- with high numbers among both Republicans and Democrats -- supported the use of deadly force to protect themselves from danger in their home.
Two-thirds said they backed laws permitting the use of deadly force to protect themselves in public.
Gun restrictions needed, most say
According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, nearly 100,000 people are shot every year in the United States in murders, suicides, accidents or police intervention.
Government statistics show 31,347 people died in the United States in 2009 from gunshots, including 11,493 in homicides.
Ninety-one percent of those who responded to the survey agreed on the need for background checks before a firearm can be sold. Only 6 percent said they thought gun ownership should require no, or very few restrictions.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they supported limiting the sale of automatic weapons, and 62 percent oppose bringing firearms into churches, workplaces or stores.
"A fairly large number of Americans support strong regulation, or at least moderate regulation of gun ownership," said Jackson. "Which is sort of counter to the narrative you often hear that legislators can't touch our guns or you'll have to pay."
Nearly half of those surveyed felt crime rates were rising where they lived - even though FBI statistics show that violent crime has declined for the past 4 1/2 years.
NYTimes: NRA gathers amid growing storm over gun laws
"People's perception of crime always over-represents reality," said Jackson. "I think that indicates the mind frame that the American public is in - there's always a constant low-level worrying about street crime."
As a result, 85 percent of those polled said they did not believe police could stop all crime and 77 percent felt regular people had to "step up" to help prevent crime from happening.
The survey included 650 Republicans, 752 Democrats and 520 independents. The precision of the Reuters/Ipsos online poll is measured using a credibility interval and this poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points for all respondents.
Ipsos/Reuters Poll: Gun Rights & Regulations
Friday, April 13, 2012
- The NRA is a reasonably popular organization. Unsurprisingly, favorability towards the NRA is stronger among Republicans but a majority of Democrats have a favorable attitude towards the organization.
- As comparison points, we also asked about the NAACP, ACLU and AARP. AARP has the strongest favorability rates of the four organizations. Favorability towards the ACLU and NAACP are both strongly influenced by partisan ID.
- Americans are broadly supportive of restrictions or regulations on gun ownership.
- Only 6% say there should be no or very few restrictions on gun ownership.
- 62% oppose allowing people to bring a firearm into a church, workplace or retail establishment.
- 91% support background checks for gun purchasers.
- 69% support limiting the number of guns a person could purchase in a given time frame.
- 74% support laws limiting the sale of automatic weapons.
- However, Americans are also broadly supportive of a number of pro-gun laws including:
- Majorities support concealed carry laws and allowing the use of deadly force, both in homes and public places.
- Framing this discussion, Americans remain concerned with crime and are concerned about what is to be done about it.
- Almost half of Americans think crime rates are going up in their communities.
- Significant majorities do not think police can stop all crime from happening
- As a consequence, large majorities believe regular people need to step up to prevent crimes (leading to the Trayvon Martin incident).
The data were weighted to the U.S. current population data by gender, age, education, ethnicity and a political values scale. Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Figures marked by an asterisk (*) indicate a percentage value of greater than zero but less than one half of a per cent. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding.
More data and full technical details are available in the topline document attached.
For more information on this news release please contact:
Chris Jackson
Research Director, Public Sector Practice
Ipsos Public Affairs
202.420.2011
chris.jackson@ipsos.com
About Ipsos
Ipsos is an independent market research company controlled and managed by research professionals. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has grown into a worldwide research group with a strong presence in all key markets. In October 2011 Ipsos completed the acquisition of Synovate. The combination forms the world’s third largest market research company.
"Americans do hold to this idea that people should be allowed to defend themselves and using deadly force is fine, in those circumstances," said pollster Chris Jackson. "In the theoretical ... there's a certain tolerance of vigilantism."
ReplyDeleteVigilantism is when citizens set up their own private courts to dispense punishment instead of turning captured criminals over to the government. That has nothing to do with this poll.
As for the use of deadly force, the law in America has always been the same for private citizens as it is for police officers. This is a consequence of the principle of political equality under the law (in contrast to a feudal system of armed lords and knights protecting unarmed serfs -- whether or not the higher value placed on rulers' lives is the result of inheritance, political appointment, or democratic election). A private citizen who shoots an armed robber is no more "taking the law into his own hands" than is a policeman who shoots a robber pointing a gun at _him_. Both are merely defending their own lives; neither is acting as "judge, jury and executioner."