Depending on where you sit politically, there’s good news and bad news about the Supreme Court according to a recent poll by Marquette Law. Opinions popular with social conservatives and the conservative majority on the court aren’t well-liked right now, but despite that, the NYSRPA v Bruen decision is overwhelmingly popular. Not only does this show that gun rights are a winning issue in this election, but that gun rights have managed to cross the massive political divides in the United States.
Looking At The Whole Poll First
First, let’s look at the Marquette Law poll. Context matters. Conducted from October 1-10, 2024, the survey contacted 1,005 random adults across the United States. Using standard statistical science (which is pretty solid if you get a good, representative and random sample), Marquette estimates a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points. This poll is worth looking at because Marquette is widely recognized as being among the best polling organizations in the United States.
I raise all of this first because I know some readers will not like the first bit of news I share: the Supreme Court isn’t very popular right now, nor are decisions many conservatives agree with.
While there was a brief time in 2022 when the general public approved of the Supreme Court more than it supported it, opinion of the court took a nosedive in the wake of the decision overturning Roe v Wade and allowing states to set strict anti-abortion laws. At present, the court has a 45% approval rating and 55% disapproval. Considering the margin of error, this means that the approval of the court could be almost 50/50, or it could be a little closer to 60/40. But, either way, a solid majority does not support the court.
There’s less room for dispute about some of the court’s more divisive and controversial decisions. Presidential immunity for official acts made a lot of news, and the poll finds that only about 39% favor that decision, while 61% oppose. The overturn of Roe v Wade we’ve already talked about affecting SCOTUS popularity is a little lower, with 37% favoring and 63% opposing.
If SCOTUS popularity and these two cases were all we looked at, it would be pretty clear that conservatives are on the ropes heading into a tough election. But, there are some glimmers of hope for people on the political right. A case stopping race-based college admissions is hugely popular, with 79% favoring and only 21% opposing.
Gun Rights Have Clearly Become A Mainstream Civil Rights Issue
While not quite as popular, the NYSRPA v Bruen decision (which firmly defended the right to carry weapons outside of the home) came in at 70% support, compared to 30% against. This makes being pro-gun almost twice as popular as abortion bans and presidential immunity! It also places it a little higher than marriage equality (65% for, 35% against) and protecting access to abortion drugs (66% vs 34%).
One important thing this shows us is that gun rights are no longer a conservative or Republican issue. Clearly, there’s a wide swath of the public that isn’t socially conservative nor would be willing to extend immunity to protect Trump from prosecution, but they do support gun rights. So, even if conservative politicians do poorly this year, we’re still going to see Democratic Party politicians think twice before trying to enact sweeping anti-gun laws.
It’s also important to note that the percentage of support is pretty close to other issues considered civil rights issues by most people today. With 70% supporting gun rights, 66% supporting abortion medications, and 65% supporting marriage equality, this is clearly an issue that the average person both cares about and thinks is a matter of freedom and human rights.
The only people who will hate this result are the anti-gun grifter groups out there. They love to tell everyone about how much Americans love “common sense gun regulation” or whatever nonsense phrase they’re using today, but few agree with them on banning concealed carry or regulating it so heavily that only the wealthy and well-connected can really get a chance at a permit.
The big question now is whether pro-gun groups will be wise and become less partisan to maximally defend gun rights and build a non-partisan coalition or whether they’ll do what the “old guard” in organizations like the NRA are doing and remain firmly in bed with the Republican Party. To do the latter would be a big mistake in the long-run.
No, they will not think twice. For the left who appreciated their gun rights those rights are at the bottom of a list of other causes. Add to that the lefts propensity to just do whatever they want despite legality and you get the “I got mine so FU” attitude Fudds are famous for.
The political gun line has not shifted in any meaningful way that would translate to altered voting behaviors or second-guessing politicians.
We can readily see this reflected in the increasingly brazen and oppressive gun control pushes from the bad witches of the North like Hochul and Whitmire.
Maybe someday but not today.
If you ask a pollster if he is honest, and he says “Yes”, he is not honest.
“3 thoughts on “Pro-Gun Decision More Popular Than Supreme Court”
Where is the 3rd thought? Only 2 posted.
After this it will read 4 thoughts, but there will only be 3!
“…opinion of the court took a nosedive in the wake of the decision overturning Roe v Wade and allowing states to set
strict anti-THEIR OWN abortion laws.”I fixed your biased writing, Jen. It’s very telling how you guys despise actual democracy.
“…we’re still going to see Democratic Party politicians think twice before trying to enact sweeping anti-gun laws.”
I see you’re still drinking the Dem Kool-Aid. Guess what else receives majority support of this country? Border and immigration control, even including legal immigration! Did the Democrats look at that and decide to do the thing the country wanted them to do? No! They did what 25% of the country wanted them to do. That’s the part that either profits from it through wealth or power, or the people that hate this country. They’re so brazen, they did this while lying about it the entire time! If you can’t grasp these basic concepts, then you’re just as lost as the rest of them.