Report: Overwhelming, Bipartisan Support for Universal Background Checks for Gun Purchases

The June 2022 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,316 registered voters in the United States about gun violence, abortion laws, President Biden, and more.

Gun Violence

Americans overwhelmingly agree that gun violence is a problem in the United States today. Two in three Americans (67%) describe gun violence as a big problem. Another 16% say that it is a small problem. Nearly all Democrats (96%), as well as 61% of Independents, and even 38% of Republicans consider gun violence to be a big problem. Americans living in urban areas (77%) are especially likely to call gun violence a big problem.

A massive 86% of voters – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – support universal background checks for anyone who wants to buy a gun. Fully 72% of Americans say they strongly support universal background checks. Among Democrats, support is nearly universal, at 95%. In addition, 84% of Independents and 75% of Republicans support universal background checks. Only a very small minority of 12% of Americans are opposed to background checks before purchasing a gun.

Banning assault weapons at the national level is highly polarizing. A majority of Americans (52%) support a complete assault weapon ban, led by 90% of Democrats. However, 82% of Republicans and 53% of Independents oppose such a ban.

Americans disagree over the age at which it should be legal to purchase a gun. Most Democrats prefer an age limit of 21 or 25 years old (42% and 30%, respectively). Republicans, on the other hand, are comfortable with lower age limits: half (50%) believe that the minimum age should be 18 years old. A significant 6% of Americans do not believe anyone should be allowed to purchase a gun.

Although Americans, on the whole, support stricter gun control measures, they are pessimistic as to whether any of these laws will reduce school shootings in the United States. While 45% of Americans believe that stricter gun laws would result in fewer school shootings, more Americans (48%) say they will not.

Abortion Laws

Americans are broadly aware of the recent leak of a draft Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade, with 78% saying they have heard “a lot” about the leak. In the wake of this leaked decision, 41% of Americans believe that the U.S. Supreme Court is too conservative. Two in ten voters (20%) say that the Court has a good ideological balance. A further 16% find the Court to be too liberal. Only 9% think that the Supreme Court is not ideological.

Support for a bill that would turn the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision into a federal law is divided, with 45% of Americans in support of Congress passing such a bill and 42% opposing it. Opposition to Congress passing a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade includes 71% of Republicans and 45% of Independents, while 75% of Democrats support codifying Roe.

A third of voters (34%) are satisfied with the abortion laws in their state. However, 29% want fewer restrictions on abortion in their state. Another 28% think that abortion should be restricted more. Voters in the south and midwest are most likely to say they would like abortion to be less restricted in their state, while more voters in the west and northeast say they are satisfied with their state’s policies on abortion.

Feelings Towards President Biden

The survey asked three questions about how respondents view Joe Biden’s character. Most Americans believe that Biden is fundamentally a good person. However, in line with his low job approval rating, a majority (55%) do not trust President Biden to tell them the truth about important issues in America today.

A plurality of voters (47%) believe that President Joe Biden is fundamentally a good person, whereas 35% think he is a bad person, and 13% find him to be neither good nor bad. A large majority of Democrats (88%) think Biden is a good person, but there is a significant difference by age: 75% of Democrats aged 18-34 say Biden is a good person, compared to over 90% of Democrats over age 35.

Asked about their feelings towards Joe Biden on a personal level, 54% of Americans say that they strongly (45%) or somewhat (9%) dislike him. One quarter (25%) like Biden a lot, and 16% somewhat like him. While 54% of Democrats overall say that they strongly like the president, only 24% of young Democrats strongly like him, compared to 77% of Democrats over the age of 65.

Nearly half of Americans (48%) do not trust President Biden at all to tell them the truth about important issues in America today. Another 7% say they mostly distrust President Biden. One quarter (22%) trust him a lot, and 21% mostly trust him. Only 19% of Democrats under the age of 35 say that they trust Joe Biden a lot, versus 70% of Democrats over age 65. Nearly all Republicans (90%) do not trust Joe Biden at all.

_Civiqs surveyed 1,316 registered voters in the United States from June 4-7, 2022. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.06. The survey has a margin of error of ±2.8% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect. _