I look to many sources to inform me on current events. One place that continues to impress me is The Pew Research Center for The People and the Press They don't just ask people yes no questions but try to word them in such a way that a reader is better able to gage depth of feeling.
Such was the case with their recent poll on the controversial vote on gun restrictions in the senate. Pew asked people if they were angry or very happy, disappointed or relieved. I think that wording the question in this way better captured the sentiments of the general public. Much more so than a simple "do you agree with the senate vote yes/no and then test for strength of agreement or not.
I should say right away that the sample size was around a thousand, so it's probably not illuminating to drill down into subsets, the likely hood of being off is probably way too large. I think the error overall is plus or minus four.
I know I read here at DK and on the regular media sources pretty much the same story going in and coming out of the vote. 90% of the public are behind increased background checks etc. Why then the discrepancy with the way senators voted?
The common meme is the horrid NRA that the vast majority of gun owners don't belong to or even agree with worked it's fear and intimidation with the senators. I think the issue might well be more nuanced than that.
I consider myself somewhat informed on what was going on. Votes, and amendments and what not. But I really couldn't say what exactly even the compromise was all about. I had started out very pro background check but as the circus grew larger daily I really didn't know what to think. I trusted both my senators to be more informed than I was. I should note I watch no TV.
Twenty five percent of Dems who had an opinion were either very happy or relieved. I don't know of one Democrat I'd label as conservative like we used to have them back in the 70s. That's a lot of Dems. Small sample size, could be off by quite a bit, but still, something to think about.
More than half the Independents who gave an opinion, very happy or relieved.
One thing senators are very good at is getting re elected, it's their job.