For immediate release Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Contact: Krista Jenkins 973.443.8390; kjenkins@fdu.edu

New Jerseyans Divided on Best Way to Stop Gun Violence

Fairleigh Dickinson University, July 20, 2016 – Garden State residents endorse a variety of solutions to curb gun violence, but opinion is divided over what would be most effective in preventing another massacre, such as the one on June 12 at an Orlando, Florida nightclub.

The most recent survey of New Jersey adults from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that a majority support a number of proposals that could reduce the senseless murder of innocent victims, including banning firearm purchases from those on a “no fly” or terror watch list (81%), providing greater funding for mental health services (73%), an “assault weapons” ban (63%), and reducing magazine capacity (56%). Other options failed to garner majority support, including placing fewer restrictions on conceal and carry laws (27%), banning immigration from countries with large Muslim populations (23%), and prohibiting all Muslims from entering the country (13%).

“New Jersey residents overwhelmingly back a variety of proposals for trying to prevent another mass shooting like the one in Orlando. Although not everyone agrees with policies that are designed to place greater restrictions on gun ownership, the top vote-getters in this survey reveal broad consensus even among Republicans and Democrats,” said Krista Jenkins, professor of political science and Director of PublicMind.

However, opinion is more divided over which of the policies would do the most to prevent mass shootings. A third (36%) say banning so-called “assault weapons” would bring the greatest reduction in mass shootings, with significantly fewer choosing the other options, including one that mirrors recently introduced legislation in the New Jersey State Senate. Only five percent believe that reducing a firearm’s magazine capacity would go the farthest in curbing the number of mass shootings that occur today.

“People in the state clearly think something can and should be done, but there is no consensus on which single proposal should be aggressively pursued by policymakers,” said Jenkins.

A clear dividing line exists between gun owners and those who do not own a firearm. Gun owners, comprising 17 percent of respondents, are significantly less supportive of policies that would place greater restrictions on their rights, including a ban on assault weapons (47%) and magazine capacity reductions (35%). Those who do not own guns are more likely to support these policies (68 and 61%, respectively). Gun owners are more likely to endorse fewer restrictions on conceal and carry laws (46%) as compared with non-owners (23%).

The sexes also don’t see eye to eye on some of these proposals. Although both men and women embrace a number of policy proposals, women frequently offer more robust support. Two-thirds of women support an assault weapons ban (69%) and magazine reductions (62%), as compared with barely a majority of men (57 and 50%, respectively). And men favor laws allowing conceal and carry more than women by about a two-to-one ratio (37% vs. 18%).

Finally, it seems as though people are following the debates that have arisen from the Orlando shootings closely. Sixty-one percent say they have heard or read a lot about the tragedy, with another 26 percent who have taken in some of the news.

“Despite the alarming frequency with which shootings like this continue in society, people are not numb to the news and appear to follow developments closely,” said Jenkins.

Methodology

The most recent survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind was conducted by telephone from June 22-26, 2016 using a randomly selected sample of 831 adults in New Jersey. One can be 95 percent confident that the error attributable to sampling has a range of +/- 3.6 percentage points, including the design effect. The margin of error for subgroups is larger and varies by the size of that subgroup. Survey results are also subject to non-sampling error. This kind of error, which cannot be measured, arises from a number of factors including, but not limited to, non-response (eligible individuals refusing to be interviewed), question wording, the order in which questions are asked, and variations among interviewers.

PublicMind interviews are conducted by Opinion America of Cedar Knolls, NJ, with professionally trained interviewers using a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) system. Random selection >is achieved by computerized random-digit dialing. This technique gives every person with a landline phone number (including those with unlisted numbers) an equal chance of being selected.

Landline households are supplemented with a separate, randomly selected sample of cell-phone respondents interviewed in the same time frame. The total combined sample is mathematically weighted to match known demographics of gender, age, education, and race. 454 interviews were conducted on landlines and 377 were conducted on cellular telephones.

The sample was purchased from Marketing Systems Group and the research was funded by Fairleigh Dickinson University.

 

Tables

In order to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, please tell me which of the following you would support. [Rotate – can select multiple options]
		PID			Gender		Race		Gun owner
	All	Dem	Ind	Repub	Male	Female	White	Non-white	Yes	No
Ban on firearms purchases for individuals on a terror watch or  no-fly list	81%	85	76	79	80	82	81	81	79	83
Greater funding for government mental health services	73%	79	61	67	70	75	72	74	64	75
Ban on so –called “assault weapons”	63%	78	51	46	57	69	63	65	47	68
Limiting the number of bullets that guns can fire without having  to reload, by going from 15 to 10	56%	66	51	44	50	62	56	58	35	61
Fewer restrictions on conceal and carry laws, which would allow people to carry  a gun at all times	27%	15	38	42	37	18	29	24	46	23
Ban on immigration from countries with large Muslim populations	23%	9	28	43	24	22	28	13	36	20
Ban on all Muslims from entering country	13%	5	13	25	13	13	16	8	28	10
Other (vol)	2%	2	2	3	3	2	3	2
DK (vol)	1%	0	0	1	0	1	1	0
Refused (vol)	1%	0	1	0	1	1	1	0

 

Out of those you selected, which would do the MOST to prevent another shooting like what occurred in Orlando from happening again?
		PID			Gender		Race		Gun owner
	All	Dem	Ind	Repub	Male	Female	White	Non-white	Yes	No
Ban on so –called “assault weapons”	36%	49	28	18	31	41	36	37	21	40
Ban on firearms purchases for individuals on a terror watch or  no-fly list	27%	26	31	28	25	30	24	33	19	29
Greater funding for government mental health services	12%	13	14	9	12	12	10	15	11	12
Fewer restrictions on conceal and carry laws, which would allow people to carry  a gun at all times	9%	4	12	16	13	5	11	5	22	6
Ban on immigration from countries with large Muslim populations	5%	1	5	12	5	4	6	3	7	4
Limiting the number of bullets that guns can fire without having  to reload, by going from 15 to 10	5%	5	4	4	5	4	6	3	3	5
Ban on all Muslims from entering country	4%	1	6	7	5	3	4	3	13	2
DK (vol)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Refused (vol)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

How much have you been following news about the nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida?
		PID			Gender		Race		Education		Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Repub	Male	Female	White	Non-white	HS/Some college	College+	18-34	35-59	60+
A lot	61%	64	52	60	56	65	63	57	54	66	44	63	73
Some	26%	28	25	24	27	24	24	30	28	23	36	24	18
Just a little	10%	6	16	13	13	7	11	9	13	8	15	9	8
Nothing at all	4%	3	7	4	4	3	3	4	5	2	5	4	2
DK (vol)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Refused (vol)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

How much have you been following news about the nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida?
		Own a gun
	All	Yes	No
A lot	61%	63	60
Some	26%	23	27
Just a little	10%	12	10
Nothing at all	4%	3	4
DK (vol)	0	0	0
Refused (vol)	0	0	0

 

Exact Question Wording and Order

US1.    First, do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as President?

US2.    In your opinion, do you believe the country is moving in the right direction or is it on the wrong track?

NJ1.     And turning to New Jersey, do you approve or disapprove of the job Chris Christie is doing as governor?

NJ2      In your opinion, do you think things in New Jersey are moving in the right direction or are they on the wrong track? [Randomize right direction/wrong track]

PRES1 through PRES5 released

AMEND1 through AMEND2 released

ORL1   How much have you been following news about the nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida?

1          A lot

2          Some

3          Just a little

4          Nothing at all   [SKIP ORL series]

8          DK (vol)         

9          Refused (vol)  

ORL2   In order to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, please tell me which of the following you would support. [Rotate; Respondent can select multiple options]

1          A ban on all Muslims from entering the country

2          A ban on immigration from countries with large Muslim populations

3          A ban on so-called “assault weapons”

4          Fewer restrictions on government surveillance of American citizens

5          Fewer restrictions on conceal and carry laws, which would allow people to carry a gun at all             times

6          A ban on firearms purchases for individuals on a terror watch or no-fly list

7          Greater funding for government mental health services

8          Limiting the number of bullets that guns can fire without having to reload, by going from 15 to 10

9          Other (vol)

99        DK (vol)

999      Refused (vol)

ORL3   Out of those you selected, which would do the MOST to prevent another shooting like what occurred in Orlando from happening again?[Record response if multiple choices selected]

 

Sample characteristics (weighted)

Gender	Male	49%
	Female	51%
Age	18-34	28%
	35-59	41%
	60+	30%
	Refused	1%
Race	White	64%
	African American	13%
	Hispanic	15%
	Asian	5%
	Other/Refused	3%
Party (with leaners)	Dem	51%
	Ind/DK/Refused	19%
	Repub	30%