Gun control has not been mentioned at either of the debates.
The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden concluded without a single reference to gun control or pro-Second Amendment policies, but the issue could come up during Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. In fact, if the Pence debate prep team has seen a new Gallup poll on the issues most important to voters, they might be advising the vice-president to bring up Harris’ embrace of nearly every gun control law imaginable.
According to the Gallup poll, “crime” is seen as an important issue for 79% of voters, with “gun policy” not far behind at 68%. A deeper look at the poll indicates that there’s a partisan divide on the issues, however, with far more Republicans than Democrats saying that both issues are important to them.
While 70% of Democrats or Democrat-leaners say that crime is an important issue to them, 85% of Republicans and leaners say the same thing. The gap between red and blue voters on “gun policy” is even larger. Just 60% of Democrats and leaners call gun policy and important issue, but 76% of GOP voters and leaners call the issue an important one.
By Cam Edwards