Poll: 60% of California Republicans Back Newsom’s Gun Control

A California Counts survey shows that Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom’s efforts to ban “high capacity” magazines and mandate ammunition background checks enjoys majority support from Republican voters in California.

According to survey results — published by public radio station 89.3. KPCC — the overall response to Newsom’s gun control push is 77% for, 22% against, and 1% undecided. When broken down by party affiliation, 93% of Democrats support Newsom’s proposition, as do 60% of Republicans. Sixty-two percent of independents also support Newsom’s proposition.

Opposition to the new gun controls is led by Republicans at 39%. Thirty-five percent of Iindependents oppose the gun controls while 5% of Democrat oppose them.

The responses are incongruent, however, when the results of the California Counts survey are examined more deeply. For example, a question later in the poll asks: “To what extent do you support or oppose requiring more thorough background checks, such as more indepth psychological evaluations, for anyone who is attempting to purchase firearms in California/the United States?” Thirty-seven percent of Democrats “strongly support” more checks on gun purchases while 45% “strongly oppose” more checks. Moreover, only 34% of Republicans “strongly support” an expansion of checks on firearm purchases while nearly the same number — 30 percent — “strongly oppose” expanding checks.

One way to explain the incongruence is a difference in the way California Counts tallies responses to its questions. When asking about support for Newsom’s ammunition background checks, the survey only accepts “Yes,” “No,” or “Undecided/Don’t Know” as answers. When asking about more checks on firearms purchases, the survey accepts “Strongly Support,” “Somewhat Support,” “Strongly Oppose,” “Somewhat Oppose,” and “Undecided/Don’t Know” as answers.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.