In calling for Republicans to pass gun safety measures like expanded background checks, Democrats point to polls that show most Americans support the idea.

They aren’t wrong about the polling. In fact, some polls show that over 90 percent of Americans support expanded checks.

Polling, however, does not tell the whole story.

Guest: Nate Cohn, a domestic correspondent for The Upshot at The New York Times.

Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter.

Background reading:

Broad public support for gun control may not be as broad as polling shows or as Democrats hope.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why Polling on Gun Control Gets It Wrong

The Daily

Why Polling on Gun Control Gets It Wrong