Gun control measure wildly popular with California voters

Nearly two-thirds of California voters support a gun-control initiative on the November ballot, about the same percentage of people who say they don’t have a firearm in their home, according to poll findings reported Wednesday.

The initiative is supported by 64 percent of the 1,879 registered voters who responded to the survey, while 28 percent said they would vote “no” and 8 percent had no answer, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll conducted by SurveyMonkey.

The ballot measure comes just months after the Legislature and the governor added to what are already some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. The issue is facing heightened debate after a series of mass shootings in San Bernardino, Orlando, Florida, and elsewhere.

Support for the measure is close to the percentage of people who don’t have guns, The Times reported. The survey found that 66 percent of California voters responding said no one in their household owns a gun.

Proposition 63 enjoys support across all age groups, but with the strongest (70 percent) among 18 to 24 year olds and the weakest support (56 percent) among 45 to 54 year olds, The Times reported. The measure is supported by all ethnic groups but gets the largest percentage of support (72 percent) from Hispanic voters. The measure is backed by 70 percent of women and 56 percent of men.

—City News Service