PA-Franklin & Marshall: Voters support gun control & gay marriage, but not weed

[Tender Branson]

I’m going to ask you about some gun control ideas that are currently being talked about. For
each, please tell me if you FAVOR or OPPOSE the proposal. First, do you favor or oppose…

Limiting the number of handguns that state residents can purchase to no more than one handgun per month unless the person is a police officer or licensed gun dealer or collector ?

61-36 favor

Requiring background checks for all gun sales ?

94-7 favor

Banning high-capacity ammunition magazines ?

61-35 favor

Banning the sale of assault weapons ?

61-36 favor

Allowing cities, townships, and boroughs to create their own regulations for the use and purchase of firearms ?

27-66 oppose

Generally speaking...do you favor or oppose allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally?

52-41 yes

Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal, or not?

36-55 no

Generally speaking...do you favor or oppose allowing adults to legally use marijuana for medical
purposes if a doctor recommends it?

82-16 yes

The survey findings presented in this release are based on the results of interviews conducted January 29 – February 3, 2013. The interviews were conducted at the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College under the direction of the poll’s Director Dr. G. Terry Madonna, Head Methodologist Berwood Yost, and Senior Project Manager Angela Knittle. The data included in this release represent the responses of 622 Pennsylvania registered voters, including 313 Democrats, 232 Republicans, and 77 registered as Independent/Other. The sample error for this survey is +/- 3.9 percentage points.

https://edisk.fandm.edu/FLI/keystone/pdf/keyfeb13.pdf

[dead0man]

This probably isn't the right place, but what's the point of limiting hand gun sales to one a month?  I'm not super against it because how often is this going to negatively affect someone?  But how do you figure it's going to do anything about gun crime?  You people don't really believe criminals are regularly legally buying handguns by the truck load do you?  I understand many of you just think, well, this law will mean there are every so slightly fewer guns in existence and that's a good thing, but for people with functioning brains, can you explain how this could lessen crime in any way?

of course it's the exact same percentages for wanting to ban assault weapons, so maybe just 61% of people from PA are simply ignorant.  Wait, I have a theory.....what percentage of them are Eagle fans?

[MaxQue]

As the numbers are very similar on all gun control questions, it's just "pro-gun" vs. "anti-gun", no matter the merits of the proposal.

Through, despite favoring gun control, I'll say than limiting the buys to one each month is a very wierd and totally useless measures.
A more effective measure would be requiring gun owners to have proof they legally bought their weapons, which could permit to put some gang members out of the streets and/or allow a mean to legally take their weapons away.

[Maxwell]

I'm not too surprised on the Marijuana issue. There seems to be a social conservative tinge in the otherwise normal Atlas Red State.

[politicallefty]

I'm not too surprised on the Marijuana issue. There seems to be a social conservative tinge in the otherwise normal Atlas Red State.

How do you reconcile that strong opposition with fairly robust support for gay marriage? The gay marriage number looks similar to many recent national polls. The numbers on marijuana legalization are quite the opposite (though oddly, Pennsylvania seems quite a bit more liberal on medical marijuana).

[AkSaber]

Do people even know what they want anymore?

[MaxQue]

I'm not too surprised on the Marijuana issue. There seems to be a social conservative tinge in the otherwise normal Atlas Red State.

How do you reconcile that strong opposition with fairly robust support for gay marriage? The gay marriage number looks similar to many recent national polls. The numbers on marijuana legalization are quite the opposite (though oddly, Pennsylvania seems quite a bit more liberal on medical marijuana).

Opposition to drugs is simple. When people think of pot, they see the slummy areas of Philadelphia, I suppose.

[Holmes]

Quite a few polls out recently showing Pennsylvania showing support of same-sex marriage, but I'm skeptical.

[Franzl]

This probably isn't the right place, but what's the point of limiting hand gun sales to one a month?  I'm not super against it because how often is this going to negatively affect someone?  But how do you figure it's going to do anything about gun crime?  You people don't really believe criminals are regularly legally buying handguns by the truck load do you?  I understand many of you just think, well, this law will mean there are every so slightly fewer guns in existence and that's a good thing, but for people with functioning brains, can you explain how this could lessen crime in any way?

of course it's the exact same percentages for wanting to ban assault weapons, so maybe just 61% of people from PA are simply ignorant.  Wait, I have a theory.....what percentage of them are Eagle fans?

Functioning brains? People with functioning brains would see why an absolute right to civilian gun ownership would cause problems.

[DemPGH]

Ed Rendell talked about "one gun a month" for two full terms, but with Ed I always got the feeling that he was just paying lip service. He was good at that sort of thing. It should be "one gun a year," but the idea behind "one gun a month" is twofold: 1) stop someone loading up for a shooting spree, and 2) hunters and recreational shooters, of which this state is absolutely full, will tend to "binge buy," but limiting it to one a month is minutia, I think. I would take it, though.

Good to see the state coming around on gay marriage, and I think it is. Your rural religious (Protestant and Catholic rural folks are VERY conservative) people will be the main opposition. They think the Ten Commandments are the basis for the Constitution and stuff like that. But Pittsburgh and the eastern part of the state will be more accepting of gay marriage by far.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Ed Rendell talked about "one gun a month" for two full terms, but with Ed I always got the feeling that he was just paying lip service. He was good at that sort of thing. It should be "one gun a year," but the idea behind "one gun a month" is twofold: 1) stop someone loading up for a shooting spree, and 2) hunters and recreational shooters, of which this state is absolutely full, will tend to "binge buy," but limiting it to one a month is minutia, I think. I would take it, though.

Good to see the state coming around on gay marriage, and I think it is. Your rural religious (Protestant and Catholic rural folks are VERY conservative) people will be the main opposition. They think the Ten Commandments are the basis for the Constitution and stuff like that. But Pittsburgh and the eastern part of the state will be more accepting of gay marriage by far.

I believe it was James Carville who once described Pennsylvania as "Pittsburgh on one end, Philadelphia on the other, and Alabama in the middle."

[dead0man]

It should be "one gun a year," but the idea behind "one gun a month" is twofold: 1) stop someone loading up for a shooting spree, and 2) hunters and recreational shooters, of which this state is absolutely full, will tend to "binge buy,"

How many times in the last 50 years has number 1 happened?  and I don't see how number 2 is a problem at all.

Thank you for answering the question.

[DemPGH]

Ed Rendell talked about "one gun a month" for two full terms, but with Ed I always got the feeling that he was just paying lip service. He was good at that sort of thing. It should be "one gun a year," but the idea behind "one gun a month" is twofold: 1) stop someone loading up for a shooting spree, and 2) hunters and recreational shooters, of which this state is absolutely full, will tend to "binge buy," but limiting it to one a month is minutia, I think. I would take it, though.

Good to see the state coming around on gay marriage, and I think it is. Your rural religious (Protestant and Catholic rural folks are VERY conservative) people will be the main opposition. They think the Ten Commandments are the basis for the Constitution and stuff like that. But Pittsburgh and the eastern part of the state will be more accepting of gay marriage by far.

I believe it was James Carville who once described Pennsylvania as "Pittsburgh on one end, Philadelphia on the other, and Alabama in the middle."

Ha! A buddy of mine calls it Pennsylbama. Nice folks and all with a flair for the southern hospitality thing as well, but it is conservative!

It should be "one gun a year," but the idea behind "one gun a month" is twofold: 1) stop someone loading up for a shooting spree, and 2) hunters and recreational shooters, of which this state is absolutely full, will tend to "binge buy,"

How many times in the last 50 years has number 1 happened?  and I don't see how number 2 is a problem at all.

Thank you for answering the question.

Sure thing. As to how often #1 has happened, it's chiefly precautionary because people load up on guns somewhere! Why make it easier? And a lot of people are not going to bother to go to the bad part of town to buy an Uzi for a premeditated spree, IMO. #2 is a problem because there are gun nuts who are reckless with them, simply.

[Simfan34]

Do people even know what they want anymore?

Have they ever at any time?

[bballrox4717]

There's definitely a correlation between the fact that Obama supports gun control and gay marriage but not the legalization of marijuana. I suspect that once gay marriage is legal across the nation, that liberals will focus on marijuana legalization. Medical marijuana, which is gaining more popularity, seems to be similar to what civil unions were 10-15 years ago.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

The poll results don't surprise me; lots of Obama voters in Pennsylvania are still white Catholics with a populist/conservative streak; many have come around on same-sex marriage, though they're divided on abortion and would certainly oppose marijuana legalization. It's why I say that Bob Casey Jr. (who is generic D on most issues except abortion) is a good median Pennsylvanian.

I happen to live in this "Pennsyltucky" which we're talking about. There are certainly large swathes of rural conservatism, but it's not quite accurate to lump it all together. There's the traditionally GOP Pennsylvania Dutch areas, which are socially and fiscally conservative and middle-class, but can have a social justice/pacifistic streak (hence why rural Germans in general swung hard towards Obama in 2008; 2012 was a reversion to the mean of sorts). There's the sparsely populated areas of northern Pennsylvania, which have also usually been GOP strongholds and are probably the most anti-gun control parts of the state.

Then there's western PA; several counties are still swingy/lean D at a local level, even for more liberal democrats (compare the Obama vs. Casey results in 2012 in Greene and Cambria counties), but dislikes Obama because of the perception that he's anti-coal (race also played a big part, as did the PUMA vote). A lot of disgruntled Democrats also didn't bother to turn out for Obama.

Other than some parts of Lancaster, York, and Adams counties, most of the "T" isn't really culturally southern. Instead, some areas are more Pennsylvania Dutch, some are more like upstate New York, and some areas just reflect Democratic erosion in the coal-bearing areas west of the Appalachians.

To get to the point, Pennsylvania is probably falling under the same problem that happened in other states that voted on same-sex marriage; it fared better in polling than in actual results, even though it passed in all three states where it was voted on. I suspect that if it went up for a referendum right now, same-sex marriage would narrowly be voted down. Philadelphia (though by less than you'd think), Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Lackawanna, Monroe, Centre, Allegheny, and Erie counties would probably be green, with Luzerne, Lehigh, Northampton, and Dauphin possibly joining them.

[Maxwell]

I'm not too surprised on the Marijuana issue. There seems to be a social conservative tinge in the otherwise normal Atlas Red State.

How do you reconcile that strong opposition with fairly robust support for gay marriage? The gay marriage number looks similar to many recent national polls. The numbers on marijuana legalization are quite the opposite (though oddly, Pennsylvania seems quite a bit more liberal on medical marijuana).

I mean, gay marriage is an issue that the public has turned, and I think when the public turns, a lot of states follow, and I think Pennsylvania is like that. At the same token, Marijuana isn't moving as quickly, and there is still a lot of opposition to it, so I think a lot of that tinge is coming back in that way. I didn't say Pennsylvanians were all social conservatives mind you, I said that it was a flavor.