Obama losing his gun control campaign

By: Dan Spencer (Diary) | January 24th, 2013 at 12:00 PM | 16

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New polling from Washington Post-ABC News and Pew find that President Obama’s campaign to repress the Second Amendment right “keep and bear arms” is faltering.

On January 22, 2013, Pew released polling results that found the public followed news about Obama’s gun control proposals closely and the reaction is mixed. Only 39 percent think Obama’s proposals are about right, while 31 percent think the proposals go too far. Or, as Politico put it, “39 percent back Obama gun plan.”

Of course there is the usual partisan divide. A 57 percent majority of Republicans say the proposals go too far, and 25 percent say they are about right. A 55 percent majority of Democrats (55%) say the proposals s are about right, and 10 percent say they go too far. Independents are more evenly divided — 36 percent say the proposals are about right, while 33 percent say they go too far.

There is also a gender divide with Men more likely than women to say Obama’s gun control proposals go too far — 36 percent vs. 26 percent.

It is important to note that despite the “modest” up tick after Newtown, support for gun control remains lower than before Obama took office. In April 2008, 58 percent said it was more important to control gun ownership, while 37 percent prioritized protecting gun rights. In a poll released January 14, 2013 Pew found that 51 percent say it is more important to control gun ownership, while 45 percent say it is more important to protect gun rights.

The new Washington Post-ABC News poll, released today, finds that support for Obama’s gun control package is lower than it was for some of the same steps polled in an ABC/Post poll earlier this month, before Obama’s repressive gun control package was announced.

In an article on the new ABC News/Washington Post poll, the Washington Post reports that most congressional Republicans and some Democrats oppose restrictive new gun control measures, such as an assault-weapons ban.

Even the New York Times reports on how Democrats are now worried that Obama’s gun control campaign is going “imperil” the rest of the Democrats’ agenda. And former President Clinton recently reminded Democrats what happened the last time the Democrats acted against gun rights and passed the so-called assault weapon ban:

“Clinton said that passing the 1994 federal assault weapons ban ‘devastated’ more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers in the 1994 midterms — and cost then-Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D-Wash.) his job and his seat in Congress.”

With six Democrats up for election in two years in states where Obama received less than 42 percent of the vote, some Democrats might have to choose between their own constituents and Obama’s misguided gun control agenda.

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Friday, January 25, 2013