NRA Cites Polling on Gun Policy’s Place in the Midterms

NRA-ILA is pointing gun owners to polling on the place of gun policy in this year’s midterm elections. Its October 19 article links Gallup and Pew Research Center and argues that interest in gun control has waned. The full article contains polling evidence and also warns gun owners against becoming complacent.

Pew’s October 8 report gives readers a concrete starting point. In a survey conducted September 28 through October 4, 45% of registered voters rated gun policy very important to their congressional vote. The corresponding figures were 54% among Republican candidate supporters and 40% among Democratic candidate supporters.

Those figures measure the importance of an issue to a vote. They do not tell us whether each respondent favors tighter firearm restrictions, fewer restrictions or the laws already in place. A voter can consider gun policy important for very different reasons.

Pew describes gun policy as less central to Democratic voters than it was in 2022. NRA-ILA uses that polling in its current election commentary, but the poll itself was published October 8. It is background evidence for the October 19 article, not a new survey released today.

For gun owners weighing campaign claims, read the question as carefully as the percentage. Compare candidates’ stated firearm policies rather than treating an issue-priority ranking as a vote on the Second Amendment. Sign up for the WTF News newsletter for sourced updates on gun policy and elections.

Correction — October 22, 2026: The earlier version discussed an incomplete extraction of the NRA-ILA page rather than its full reporting. The source article links polling from Gallup and Pew and cautions against complacency. We have replaced that account with source-based reporting and identified the date and limits of the Pew figures.