Poll: Huge majority thinks Washington can reduce gun violence

In the wake of the mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, 71 percent of respondents in the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll agreed that “there’s something that can be done through public policies” that would help seriously reduce mass shootings.

The sentiment was broadly popular across gender, race, and party lines; only 24 percent of respondents disagreed. Among whites, men without college educations were most likely to oppose that statement, but most (64 percent) still supported it…

But once the conversation moves to potential actions or solutions, the poll found divisions among Americans on the best way forward.

While 62 percent of respondents said they “would support banning gun purchases for life for all individuals with a history of violence or a police record,” as Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis had, 32 percent said they would oppose such a measure. Support for a lifetime ban dropped to 56 percent among political independents and to 53 percent among rural respondents, whose influence is magnified in the Senate.