Poll: 53% Of Americans Say Critics Of Political Rhetoric Are Exploiting Tucson Tragedy

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Written By:
Rob Port

Jan 13, 2011
10:09am

A couple of days ago CBS released a poll indicating that just 32% of Americans felt the Tucson shooter Jarred Loughner was motivated by politics. Overall, 57% felt that there was no connection between the shooting and politics, something even a plurality of 49% of Democrats agreed with.

Now Gallup has findings that are similar, indicating that 53% feel those suggesting the Tucson tragedy was about political rhetoric are just exploiting the tragedy. Also, a full 72% feel that stricter gun control laws wouldn’t have averted the tragedy.

Most Americans reject the idea that inflammatory political language by conservatives should be part of the debate about the forces behind the Arizona shooting that left six people dead and a congresswoman in critical condition, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.
A 53% majority of those surveyed call that analysis mostly an attempt to use the tragedy to make conservatives look bad. About a third, 35%, say it is a legitimate point about how dangerous language can be.

And there is little sense that stricter gun control laws in Arizona might have averted the tragedy. Only one in five say they would have prevented the shooting; 72% say tighter controls wouldn’t have prevented it.

Even 35% of Democrats feel the talk of an “atmosphere of hate” that contributed to the shooting is just an attempt to attack conservatives. Overall 52% of Democrats disagree, but the number disagreeing is too large for the left to ignore I think. And the total numbers speak clearly from both this poll and the CBS poll.

Americans, at large, aren’t buying what the left is selling about Tucson.