"Public Opinion May Finally Be an Enemy the NRA Actually Fears"

Public Opinion May Finally Be an Enemy the NRA Actually Fears

by Philip Bump at the Atlantic Wire

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/05/public-opinion-nra/64854/

"SNIP....................


McCain called on a woman named Pam Simon.

"I would like to thank you so much for your vote on background checks," said Simon.

There was loud, sustained applause.

Simon, a former staffer for Gabby Giffords, was shot through the arm by Jared Loughner in the 2011 shooting in Tucson. She presented McCain, one of four Republican senators that voted for the compromise, with a bouquet of 19 roses after the event — one for each person killed or injured by Loughner.

The most threatening response to the NRA in the wake of its victory has been an informal one, sparked by polls from Public Policy Polling. We've written about their polls showing the political hit taken by those who opposed the compromise, and the effect the left-leaning, headline-hunting, typically accurate group has had on Jeff Flake, apparently the most unpopular Senator in America after his gun vote. But another set of polls shows that two Democrats in red or swing states saw a boost from backing the background check policy. PPP reports that 44 percent of Louisiana voters said Senator Mary Landrieu's vote for the policy made them more likely to support her — including a plurality of independents. For North Carolina's Kay Hagan, 52 percent of all voters were similarly inclined; 59 percent of Republicans are either more likely to support Hagan now or said the vote didn't matter.

These surveys have been hailed as the sort of evidence that OFA has been unable to provide: there is a political cost to opposing background checks, a policy still supported by more than three-quarters of Americans. Flake, one of the senators PPP suggested had taken a hit, says that the questions were skewed to make him look bad — a line that will almost certainly be echoed by the NRA during its convention, which will feature Senator Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and the gun lobby's new president, among others.. The NRA clearly recognizes the threat these polls pose, as evidenced by its effort to provide air support for its allies. Meaning that, after all of these months, the sleeping giant of public opinion is finally being brought to bear on the background check fight, even as it carries on.



...................SNIP"