Gun Background Checks Supported By Voters In Southern Red States, Poll Found

A majority of Americans have said they support gun background checks, and new polls released Wednesday reveal that voters in Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia are no exception.

Surveys by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found that 60 percent of Arkansas voters, 67 percent of Tennessee voters and 71 percent of Georgia voters support universal background checks. Nationwide, the number is upwards of 80 percent, most polls have found.

While Democrats are more likely to favor the measure, majorities of both parties backed the idea in two of the three states polled. Eighty-two percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans in Georgia said they support background checks, while 88 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of Republicans in Tennessee stated support.

The partisan gap was greatest in Arkansas, where 85 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Republicans said they support gun background checks.

In Georgia, both senators' approval ratings were unaffected by their votes last month against the bill to expand background checks. In the poll released Wednesday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) had a 35 percent approval rating and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) was at 38 percent, both virtually unchanged from a comparable PPP poll released in February.

The PPP poll surveyed 522 Arkansas voters, 576 Georgia voters and 500 Tennessee voters on May 22 and 23 using automated phone calls.