While visiting a construction site in Detroit, Joe Biden got into an argument with a gun nut who claimed that the candidate had advocated a gun grab in “a viral video.” Biden told him he was “full of shit,” before engaging in a back-and-forth.
Republicans (and, weirdly, the Bernie Sanders campaign) have pounced, thinking they have a winner. However, guns are not the GOP advantage they think it is.
Nationally, voters are certainly in favor of gun control—or, as the Second Amendment explicitly puts it, “well regulated” measures. Civiqs shows how popular gun control is nationally:
Even more importantly, white educated women—exactly the kind of voters Republicans lost in 2018, leading to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and big Democratic gains up and down the ballot—are even more supportive of gun control.
It turns out they don’t want to see more dead children.
The kicker, though, is attitudes toward gun control in the seven states that matter. You ready?
Every single battleground state supports gun control.
Arizona: 51-44
Florida: 51-43
Georgia: 50-45
Michigan: 50-44
North Carolina: 52-42
Pennsylvania: 52-42
Wisconsin: 53-41
Republicans are in some serious bubble if they think the Biden clip above helps them in any way. It helps reassure those suburban white women that someone in charge will be trying to make their neighborhoods and schools safer, and shows liberals that, hey, maybe the guy does have some fire in him.
As for the Sanders campaign, not sure what they think they’re doing other than reminding Democrats of Sanders’ biggest liability—his past avid support for the NRA and its agenda. That’s just weird.
So all in all, not a bad clip for Biden.