Popularity Of Background Checks For Gun Buyers

The other day President Obama remarked about the extraordinary popularity of a law requiring background checks for gun buyers, asking when was the last time 90% of Americans agreed on anything. He had a point. It is very unusual for that high a percentage to agree on anything -- even things that are innocuous and regarded as widely liked by most.

On April 10th and 11th, YouGov Polling did a small survey to see just how hard it is to get 90% of Americans to agree on something. They questioned 1,000 random nationwide American adults about some things widely regarded as popular in this country -- ice cream, apple pie, kittens, child labor laws, and baseball. Here are the results (with the figure given being those who approve):

ice cream...............93%
apple pie...............81%
kittens...............76%
child labor laws...............71%
baseball...............67%

The margin of error for the poll was 3.7 points. But even considering that margin of error, the only thing as popular as background checks for gun buyers was ice cream. If the politicians cannot pass a law this popular, they may find a lot of angry voters in 2014.