Gun violence drops from record high as Americans’ top concern: Gallup

Most Americans say dissatisfaction with government and immigration reform top gun violence when it comes to the most pressing issue of the day, as gun violence saw a steep drop from it’s record high among Americans’ concerns.

A Gallup poll released Tuesday shows that just 6 percent of Americans say gun control and gun violence is the most pressing issue facing the country, down from last month’s record high in the same poll of 13 percent.

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The gun violence issue ranks fourth, behind dissatisfaction with government at 23 percent, immigration at 11 percent and race relations at 7 percent.

Gun violence became voters’ second largest concern in March just a month after 17 people were killed at a Florida high school in a mass shooting. That poll saw 13 percent of respondents saying it was their top concern. A steep jump from the less than 1 percent who said the same in February. 

The March Gallup poll found that Americans’ support for tougher gun laws was at its highest level since 1993.

In the new poll, Democrats are now twice as likely to say gun violence remains America’s most pressing issue, at 8 percent to 4 percent of Republicans who say the same.

The Gallup poll suggests that much of the interest lost has been among Democrats, where mentions of gun violence as the most pressing issue dropped 8 percentage points in just one month.

Congress passed a law last month allocating $25 million for school safety endeavors after survivors of the Parkland, Fla. shooting in February launched a national campaign surrounding gun violence and school shootings. The bill neglected to address many of the gun control propositions supported by the “March for Our Lives,” the campaign headed by survivors of the shooting.

The April Gallup poll contacted 1,015 adults, aged 18 and older, in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., between April 2-11. It carries a margin of error of 4 percentage points.