Don’t discount social issues for the 2016 election. Such issues are becoming increasingly more important to voters than they were in 2012.
CNN points out that Democrats may have generally fared better on these issues with public opinion. With their new poll, however, they also add that such results don’t necessarily favor one party over the other.
On guns, 49 percent think that the current guns laws are “about right.” The poll finds that 41 percent find it “too easy,” which is a notable decrease from 2013, when 56 percent thought so.
When asked about “more comprehensive background checks… for all gun purchases,” a plurality of voters, at 35 percent, answered that it was “not at all likely” that they would “prevent convicted criminals from buying guns.”
At the same time though, 28 percent of voters say it would be “not at all likely” and 29 say it would be “somewhat likely” to “make it harder for law-abiding citizens without mental health problems to buy guns.”
CNN notes that the “mixed overall views mask sharp divides by sex, partisanship, age and urbanity.”
On immigration, CNN asked voters what their top and second priority would be. At 88 percent, voters want to focus on preventing immigrants from coming into the country illegally, with 70 percent favoring a path to citizenship. Just 37 percent want to focus on deportation.
The issue of birthright citizenship has an almost exactly even split, with 50 percent saying children born here to illegal immigrant should have automatic citizenship, with 49 percent saying they should not.
When it comes to abortion, a majority of voters, at 54 percent, believe that abortion should be “legal under certain circumstances.” Voters were then asked to choose between if abortion should be legal “under any,” “in most,” “in a few,” or “illegal in all” circumstances. A plurality, at 40 percent, believe it should be “legal in a few circumstances.”
On the issue of funding for Planned Parenthood as it relates to the shutdown, many believe it’s more important to avoid a government shutdown rather than ending funding for Planned Parenthood. Seventy-one to 22 percent consider it more important to reach a budget agreement.
Despite such a majority, however, Republicans are more evenly divided. A plurality at 48 percent still see avoiding a shutdown as more important, but 44 percent say ending funding for Planned Parenthood is most important.
