Most North Carolinians want Congress to act on gun violence, WRAL polling shows
New WRAL polling shows gun rights remain a divisive topic in North Carolina, but there was some agreement on a desire for action from Congress on gun violence.
When asked how they view the debate over gun rights versus gun control, one-third of likely voters said they give that issue the highest possible importance in the 2024 elections. Urgency was apparent on both sides, WRAL previously reported, but higher among registered Democrats, 42% of whom rated it as a 10-out-of-10 in importance, as did 30% of registered Republicans. Unaffiliated voters were less interested in the debate, with just 22% ranking it so highly.
New polling released Thursday shows exactly how North Carolinians break down on the issue: Most people want Congress to act, and pass stricter laws meant to address gun violence. The poll — which sampled all adults and not just likely voters — found that 53% said they want stronger gun laws. Another 14% said they didn’t have an opinion, and 33% said they don’t want to see any changes.
The poll of 850 North Carolina adults, conducted in partnership with SurveyUSA between March 3 and March 9, has a credibility interval of 4.1 percentage points. A credibility interval is similar to margin of error but takes into account more factors and is considered by some pollsters to be a more accurate measurement of statistical certainty.
The results released Thursday builds on a 2022 WRAL News poll that delved deeply into people’s opinions on gun violence and found that three in every four North Carolinians said that at least part of the blame for a recent rise in mass shootings is easy access to guns and ammunition. In that poll on mass shootings, 78% said ease of access plays a role, and 94% said mental health problems do, too.
In other WRAL News polls this week, about one in every four or five voters listed guns and mental health as among their top issues — less urgency than they gave the economy and health care, but more than on issues such as abortion and the environment.
Support for stronger gun control laws won majority support from Black, Hispanic and Asian residents. And while pro-gun views among white North Carolinians were more mixed, they were still more on the side of stricter gun control, with 47% of white North Carolinians advocating for stricter laws and 38% calling for no changes.
In the past, Republican politicians have openly celebrated the Democratic Party’s leftward trend on guns, in recent decades, as helping the GOP grow its support in rural areas. But the poll showed that even among self-identified conservatives, 48% said they’d oppose Congress taking any further action on guns. Another 40% said they do want to see more action from Congress on gun laws — a position strongly opposed by Republican Party leaders.
Self-identified liberals were more in lockstep, with 85% advocating for new laws and just 10% opposed.
The polling also showed women were far more likely than men to want more action on gun violence, with 59% of women calling for stricter laws compared with 46% of men.
Just this week, the WRAL Documentary Unit released its latest documentary about gun violence in North Carolina. The team set out to uncover why kids in North Carolina are 51% more likely to die from gun violence.
You can watch "UnSafe: North Carolina kids dying from gun violence" on WRAL.com. The documentary is also available everywhere you stream WRAL.
