As part of their Monday coverage of a tragic mass shooting at an Alabama birthday party, CBS Mornings revealed the results of new a CBS News/YouGov poll that purportedly showed 62 percent of Americans were in favor of a ban on AR-15s. Those findings flew in the face of similar recent polling that showed growing opposition to a ban.
Announcing the results was socialist co-host Tony Dokoupil, who was excited that 62 percent of respondents wanted the ban. “Well, more than 60 percent of Americans are in favor of an outright ban on AR-15 semi-automatic rifles. That's the type of gun used in school shootings in Nashville and Uvalde and so many other places,” he boasted.
But the findings didn’t mesh with a February ABC News/Washington Post poll that found only 47 percent supported a ban while 51 percent opposed it. And as The Reload’s Jake Fogleman reported, ABC’s results were the latest in a series of polls that showed opposition to an assault weapons ban was growing in momentum.
“Those who strongly opposed a nationwide ban also outpaced those who strongly supported it for the first time since 2015,” Fogleman wrote. “The results are just the latest to confirm a decreased appetite for the ban. At least three separate polls conducted in 2022 documented a decline in support for the policy, even in the immediate aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting.”
Dokoupil also vented his frustration with Republicans who felt people would be safer with more guns around:
The ideological differences, however, remain stark. Most self-identified liberals, for example, think the U.S. would be safer if fewer to even no people owned guns, while 4 in 10 conservatives think the U.S. would be safer if more people, even everyone had guns.
“And so, there we are,” he huffed.
What he failed to mention was that the results also showed that 38 percent felt “the Democratic Party’s approach to gun policy” would “put people more at risk from gun violence” and 25 percent said it wouldn’t “have any impact.” On the Republican side, the results found 41 percent and 25 respectively; well within the bad 3.2 percent margin of error.
Another poll result highlighted on screen was the 61 percent who said the debate on guns made them “frustrated,” with 45 percent feeling “angry.” Emotions could be felt on either side of the debate based on a person’s point of view.
One of the more questionable results involved Dokoupil proclaiming “[g]un violence is a top worry among kids. 6 in 10 say, in fact, say it is a major concern, something on their minds. And it's on the very same list as you find more common teenage concerns, like bullying and academic performance.”
But CBS never actually polled school-aged kids. The network was relying on a subset of their respondents who say they have kids answering on their behalf.
The exact wording of the questions read: “Which of these, if any, do your children say they feel worried about while attending school...” And to get the 61 percent, they combined the “a lot” (28%) and “sometimes” (33%) answers together. This portion of the poll had an abysmal margin of error of 6.8 percent.
One ridiculous question that didn’t get any airtime asked how people felt about mass shootings. The only available answers were “something we can prevent and stop if we really tried” (76%), which was something gun rights proponents agree with, and “Unfortunately something we have to accept as part of a free society” (24%), which was a liberal trope of the pro-gun rights argument.
Of course, Dokoupil also parroted the Gun Violence Archive’s false claim that there have been 162 mass shootings this year. NewsBusters has repeatedly debunked how they define and count mass shootings.
CBS’s announcement and promotion of their dubious poll was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Flonase and Leaf Filter. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Mornings
April 17, 2023
8:05:30 a.m. EasternTONY DOKOUPIL: All right. For folks at home, if it seems like you're thinking you can't get through a day without one of us here reporting on yet another mass shooting, well, you are on to something. Because that is the reality here in this country. There have been 162 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
And our kids are noticing. How could they not?
According to the latest CBS News Poll, gun violence is a top worry among kids. 6 in 10 say, in fact, say it is a major concern, something on their minds. And it's on the very same list as you find more common teenage concerns, like bullying and academic performance.
Now, how to deal with it? Well, more than 60 percent of Americans are in favor of an outright ban on AR-15 semi-automatic rifles. That's the type of gun used in school shootings in Nashville and Uvalde and so many other places.
The ideological differences, however, remain stark. Most self-identified liberals, for example, think the U.S. would be safer if fewer to even no people owned guns, while 4 in 10 conservatives think the U.S. would be safer if more people, even everyone had guns. And so, there we are.
Overall, Americans have grown increasingly frustrated over a partisan gun control debate and many believe that neither political party is doing enough.
