![]() ![]() These voters may be animated by many different issues, but their new status as gun owners places them in a group that is specifically attuned to how candidates from both parties talk about gun rights. ![]() Most of these purchases are handguns (not assault rifles, which capture so much media attention) and most of them are driven by concerns of personal safety. Moreover, 48 percent of self-defined political independents own guns or live with someone who does. Data show the biggest increases in gun purchases are among women and people of color - some of the very groups that Democrats have long relied on to form winning coalitions and who lately have shown signs of disenchantment with the party. But it’s not just the number of new gun owners that’s important. ![]() There are some 140 million gun owners in this country, and some 10 to 12 million of them purchased their first firearm in the past two years. It’s not climate change or Covid vaccines or even child tax credits. But if Democrats want to repair their relationships with these key voter groups there’s another issue that can do it. The reasons for these defections are numerous, with most of the post-election analysis focused on schools (and wedge issues such as “critical race theory”), the economy (rising inflation) and the response to the Covid pandemic. That’s a lot of problems that they need to solve before 2022, or risk a historic midterm rebuke that could cost them both chambers of Congress as well as multiple state Houses and county and municipal contests from coast to coast. They also have a problem with Latino voters and independents and non-college-educated women. Feldman formerly lobbied for the NRA and is the president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association.Īs the recent election results in Virginia and New Jersey showed, Democrats have a growing problem with rural and working-class voters. Richard Feldman is an attorney and government affairs expert. ![]()
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