The CPRC commissioned McLaughlin & Associates to survey 1,000 general election voters on May 19th, 2026 on whether they support more gun control or emphasizing repeat criminals (cross tabs available here). Despite frequent claims that Americans strongly support gun control, only 29.9% of voters believe passing additional gun-control laws will reduce crime, while 31.4% believe stricter enforcement of existing gun laws will help. Combined, that means 61% of voters see gun control as at least part of the solution to reducing crime. Most surveys stop there and only offer those two options. However, voters place even greater importance on arresting repeat offenders, with 30.8% identifying that as the most important approach.
By limiting responses to either passing more gun-control laws or enforcing existing ones, many surveys create the misleading impression that gun control represents the only way to reduce crime. An example is a Rasmussen survey conducted in late 2024 (December 17-19) on a similar set of voters and asked the question the traditional way. In that survey, 56% of respondents favored stricter enforcement of existing laws, while 31% supported passing additional gun-control laws. Both percentages were much higher when respondents did not have the option of choosing to arrest criminals and keep them in jail.
The CPRC previously had another survey in December 2024 by McLaughlin & Associates of 1,000 general election American voters, though the third option was more complete. It asked if people would rather “have police though that survey used a more detailed third option. Instead of simply asking about “arresting repeat criminals,” it asked whether respondents would rather “have police concentrate on arresting violent, repeat criminals, and ending cashless bail to get repeat criminals off the street.” The lower percentage choosing that option in the earlier survey may therefore reflect the wording of the question.
In that earlier survey, only 19% of voters said passing more gun-control laws would reduce crime, while slightly more, 21%, favored stricter enforcement of existing gun laws. Together, that means only 40% of voters believed gun control played a role in reducing crime. By contrast, 54% of voters said arresting criminals and keeping them in jail was more important.
The answers to these questions that breakdown the results by demographics sum to 100% across the individual categories of race, marital status, and area. In this survey, blacks and Hispanics account for 11.0% of general election voters. So Hispanics are slightly more leaning towards emphasizing arresting repeat criminals over more gun control laws and blacks are more strongly the reverse. Like Hispanics, whites are also more concerned about arresting repeat criminals than more gun laws.
Urban residents make up 31.3% of general election voters, and Suburban residents account for nearly the same share of general elections voters. By contrast, rural residents carry frequently at rates well below their 23.3% share of likely voters. The results who that while urban residents support more gun control laws over emphasizing arresting repeat criminals, suburban and rural residents feel the reverse.
Singles support more gun control over arresting repeat criminals and married individuals feel the reverse.
Liberals and Democrats support more gun control over arresting repeat criminals and conservatives and Republicans have just as strongly the opposite views.
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