Nearly Half of Republican Voters Support Stricter Gun Control Laws

Nearly half of Republican voters in a recent survey said they have some semblance of support for stricter gun control laws in the United States, a five percent increase from the same survey conducted nearly four months ago.

In the latest Morning Consult/Politico survey, 49% said they either “strongly support” or “somewhat support” stricter gun laws in the United States. A quarter said they strongly supported these measures, and 24% said they somewhat supported them. The poll found that 45% were opposed and 27% were strongly opposed

The survey was conducted October 5 through 9, just days after gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas from his hotel room, killing 59 people and injuring more than 500. The poll surveyed 1,996 registered voters, and the margin of error for the data on GOP voters is plus or minus four percentage points.

Following reports that Paddock had used a bump stock to increase his weapon’s rate of fire, several Republican lawmakers, called for the regulation of bump stocks, a sentiment the NRA echoed in the week after the shooting.

In June 2017, just days after House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot at a park in Virginia during a practice for the Congressional baseball game, the same survey found that 45% of GOP voters supported stricter laws, and 51% opposed them. In June of 2016, after 49 people were killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, only 37% were supportive of stricter laws, and 59% were opposed.

 

Write to Alana Abramson at Alana.Abramson@time.com.