Gallup polls Americans on gun laws, Clinton and Trump in the wake of the Orlando shooting

Orlando Police officers direct family members away from a fatal shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Photo)
NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller sits down for his weekly conversation with Gallup’s Frank Newport to talk about trends in U.S. opinion.
New Gallup data since the Orlando attacks show that the public is actually a little more likely to define what happened as an act of Islamic terrorism than an act of domestic gun violence. Americans are most likely to say that banning sales of guns to those on a terrorist watch list would be effective. The large majority of Americans also say that additional air strikes against the Islamic state would be effective, as well as banning the sale of assault weapons.
At the same time, Americans are just as likely to say that “changing state gun laws to allow more people to carry concealed weapons if they pass a background check and complete a training program” would be effective as they are to say that banning assault weapons would be effective.
Despite some polls saying the contrary, Gallup tracking shows that Trump’s favorable and unfavorable image among the adult American population has not changed materially since May. Clinton is more popular — at 41 percent favorable, 53 percent unfavorable — and has seen virtually no change since May.
Trump is telling LGBT voters that he is a greater friend to LGBT community than Clinton. The data contradict him. So far in June, Trump’s image among LGBT is 15 percent favorable, 78 percent unfavorable. Clinton’s is 56 percent favorable, 33 percent unfavorable.
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