The center of gravity on guns continues to shift toward Democrats in new poll

Daily Kos Staff

Friday July 06, 2018 · 1:21 PM PDT

2018/07/06 · 13:21

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MARCH 24: A woman carries an anti-NRA sign during the March for Our Lives rally on March 24, 2018 in Oklahoma City, United States. Police officials estimated that 2,500 people attended the rally in Oklahoma City. More than 800 March for Our Lives events, organized by survivors of the Parkland, Florida school shooting on February 14 that left 17 dead, are taking place around the world to call for legislative action to address school safety and gun violence. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)

Guns ranked as the No. 4 issue among voters in a new Washington Post-Schar School poll. That's relatively high but, even more notably, Democrats expressed interest in the issue over Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin—a sharp break from the decades-old conventional wisdom that conservatives are more motivated by the issue.

Chart showing the first four issues for voters ranking as jobs/economy, health care, immigration, and gun laws.

The findings track with those from an NBC poll released last month in which guns ranked as voters’ No. 3 issue, and Democrats were 25 points more motivated by it, 58 to 33 percent. Immigration ranked fifth in that poll and likely gained traction as an electoral issue over the last month amid increased coverage of family separations at the border.

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