Gun Safety Top Issue For California Voters Per Stanford Poll

PALO ALTO, CA -- Californians must feel beat up and battered. With midterm elections approaching, political pundits and junkies trying to target what voters care about may take solace in a new poll released by Stanford University that pinpoints gun safety as a top issue.

Within the research, the survey found 83 percent of the 2,178 people polled planned to vote and is as passionate than ever in California.

The poll, administered by the survey research firm YouGov and designed in conjunction with Stanford's Bill Lane Center for the American Center, asked for respondents' thoughts on the defining issues of the election. The margin of error is a plus or minus 3.1 percent.

When asked what policies would determine their vote, the most frequently cited issue that would sway them is a ban on assault weapons. Fifty-five percent declared they would support raising the minimum age to buy a gun to 21 as a pivotal policy change on the wish list. Fifty-eight percent of voters said gun safety is a "very important" issue.

Without getting political himself, Palo Alto police Sgt. Wayne Benitez wasn't surprised but was undeterred by the responses. It's been said: Actions speak louder than words.

"I told my wife that if nothing changed after Sandy Hook (the Connecticut shooting massacre), nothing's going to change," he said.

Like many, Benitez would obviously like to see fewer guns in the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

"Everybody would support that," he said.

But does that define gun safety, a broad term that can mean any number of measures taken.

Benitez said the No. 1 issue he hears about that enrages most citizens in Palo Alto is traffic on the roads in town and in the region. Perhaps this explains the origins of road rage.

The questionnaire also asked for voters surveyed to rate three other top issues in the Golden State. Forty percent ranked health care as one of the top three -- and the political ads reflect that in their frequency and intensity.

Next on the list is immigration, which 42 percent Californians polled considered as within the top three issues. Education came closely followed at 36 percent. The survey also questioned respondents whether they would favor or oppose building a wall at the border with Mexico, 33 percent said yes, 56 percent declared no.

The poll also delved into political candidates and the impact of the #MeToo Movement as well as the hearings leading up to the nomination of U.S. Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was being accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford, a professor who lives and works down the road from Stanford.

"Possibly as a consequence of the publicity around it, the sexual harassment issue has become more salient to Californians," said Bruce Cain, the Spence and Cleone Eccles Family Director of the Bill Lane Center.

Still, whatever a voter's affiliation or guiding principles, emotions have certainly appeared to play a part for most Californians.

As many as 56 percent said they felt more enthusiastic about voting Tuesday, while 12 percent said they were less so.

"The intensity of feeling about this midterm election may stem in part from voter reactions to the daily news," Cain said.

There's no good news or bad news, there's just news

When asked how often they read or hear something on the news that makes them angry, 45 percent noted this happens a few times a day, while 29 percent indicated once a day.

--Image via Shutterstock; Stanford News Center spearheaded this report