Americans view the National Rifle Association more positively now than after the Sandy Hook Massacre, according to the results of a Gallup poll released Thursday.
The NRA received a 58 percent “favorable” rating from survey respondents, up from 54 percent in late December 2012.
The results of the poll may be somewhat dispiriting to gun control advocates.
“In a year plagued with mass shootings, including a recent tragedy at a community college in Oregon, there has been a national debate as to whether the NRA, with its ardent support for gun rights, is somehow complicit in these shootings,” Gallup noted.
The last time the NRA received a net “unfavorable” according to the research firm’s polling was in 1995, when the organization attempted to raise money by denouncing federal agents as “jack-booted government thugs” in reference to the 1993 Branch-Dividian siege in Waco, Texas.
“This low favorability toward the NRA in 1995 was only compounded with the Oklahoma City bombing that spring, one month after the letter was sent to potential donors,” Gallup noted. “This dispute resulted in former President George H.W. Bush publicly resigning from his lifetime membership in the NRA.”
Despite the Thursday release, gun control advocates have seen some recent positive developments in the court of public opinion.
According to the results of a separate Gallup poll released Monday, 55 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws–up from 47 percent in 2014. Notably, 36 percent of gun owners told the research firm that they wanted a more stringent regulatory regime for firearms; up from 30 percent last year.
And while a slight majority of Americans tend to think concealed carry laws could make the US safer, the vast majority of Americans are still in favor of universal federal background checks for potential firearm owners, according to the results of another Gallup poll released Tuesday.
Read Gallup’s analysis of its latest poll here.
