{
  "alt": "Table with one row per gun question and columns for survey, item, wording, answers, years, the answer counted and the direction of the gap. It lists three GSS items on a gun in the home, personal ownership and a police permit, the ANES question on buying a gun and four 2024 ANES items, five CES items and seven Nationscape items.",
  "caption": "The surveys differ in whether an item asks about a gun in the home, a gun the respondent owns or a policy, in the stem that introduces a policy and in the middle answers they offer, so levels are not comparable across surveys. Each row gives the wording as the survey or its documentation words it; where only the file label is available the row says so.",
  "data": [
    {
      "answers": "Yes, no (refused is missing)",
      "counted": "Yes",
      "gap": "Republican minus Democratic",
      "item": "Gun in the home (owngun)",
      "survey": "GSS",
      "wording": "Do you happen to have in your home (if house: or garage) any guns or revolvers?",
      "years": "1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987 to 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Yes, no (refused is missing)",
      "counted": "Yes",
      "gap": "Republican minus Democratic",
      "item": "Gun owned by the respondent (rowngun)",
      "survey": "GSS",
      "wording": "Do any of these guns personally belong to you? Asked of respondents who report a gun in the home; no gun in the home counts as not owning",
      "years": "1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987 to 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Favor, oppose",
      "counted": "Favor",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Police permit (gunlaw)",
      "survey": "GSS",
      "wording": "Would you favor or oppose a law which would require a person to obtain a police permit before he or she could buy a gun?",
      "years": "1972 to 1977, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987 to 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024"
    },
    {
      "answers": "More difficult, keep the rules about the same, make it easier",
      "counted": "More difficult",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Buying a gun (VCF9238)",
      "survey": "ANES cumulative file",
      "wording": "Should the government make it more difficult or easier to buy a gun, or should the rules stay the same as they are now? (file label)",
      "years": "2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020"
    },
    {
      "answers": "More difficult, easier, keep these rules about the same",
      "counted": "More difficult",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Buying a gun (V242325)",
      "survey": "ANES 2024",
      "wording": "Should federal government make it more difficult or easier to buy a gun (file label; the cumulative file lacks this item for 2024)",
      "years": "2024"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Favor, oppose, neither favor nor oppose",
      "counted": "Favor",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Background checks (V242326)",
      "survey": "ANES 2024",
      "wording": "Favor or oppose background checks for gun purchases (file label)",
      "years": "2024"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Favor, oppose, neither favor nor oppose",
      "counted": "Favor",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Assault-style rifles (V242329)",
      "survey": "ANES 2024",
      "wording": "Favor or oppose banning 'assault-style' rifles (file label)",
      "years": "2024"
    },
    {
      "answers": "A number of guns, 0 for none",
      "counted": "One or more",
      "gap": "Republican minus Democratic",
      "item": "Guns in the household (V241583)",
      "survey": "ANES 2024",
      "wording": "How many guns in household (file label; asked before the election)",
      "years": "2024"
    },
    {
      "answers": "More strict, less strict, kept as they are",
      "counted": "More strict",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Firearm sale laws (guns_scale)",
      "survey": "CES",
      "wording": "In general, do you feel that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are?",
      "years": "2010, 2012"
    },
    {
      "answers": "For or support, against or oppose",
      "counted": "Support",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Background checks (guns_bgchecks)",
      "survey": "CES",
      "wording": "On the issue of gun regulation, are you for or against each of the following proposals? Background checks for all sales, including at gun shows and over the Internet (2016: support or oppose; 2019: the item alone; 2021: Require criminal background checks on all gun sales)",
      "years": "2013 to 2019, 2021"
    },
    {
      "answers": "For or support, against or oppose",
      "counted": "Support",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Assault rifles (guns_assaultban)",
      "survey": "CES",
      "wording": "Ban assault rifles (same stem as the background checks item)",
      "years": "2013 to 2021"
    },
    {
      "answers": "For or support, against or oppose",
      "counted": "Support",
      "gap": "Republican minus Democratic",
      "item": "Concealed carry (guns_permits)",
      "survey": "CES",
      "wording": "Make it easier for people to obtain concealed-carry permit (2014: concealed weapons permits)",
      "years": "2013 to 2021"
    },
    {
      "answers": "For or support, against or oppose",
      "counted": "Support",
      "gap": "Republican minus Democratic",
      "item": "Owners' names (guns_names)",
      "survey": "CES",
      "wording": "Prohibit state and local governments from publishing the names and addresses of all gun owners",
      "years": "2013 to 2017, 2020"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Yes, no",
      "counted": "Yes",
      "gap": "Republican minus Democratic",
      "item": "Household gun (gun_household)",
      "survey": "Nationscape",
      "wording": "Respondent or household member owns a gun (file description)",
      "years": "77 weekly waves, Jul 2019 to Dec 2020"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Agree, disagree, not sure",
      "counted": "Agree",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Background checks",
      "survey": "Nationscape",
      "wording": "Require background checks for all gun purchases (file description)",
      "years": "77 weekly waves, Jul 2019 to Dec 2020"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Agree, disagree, not sure",
      "counted": "Agree",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Registry",
      "survey": "Nationscape",
      "wording": "Create a public government registry of gun ownership (file description)",
      "years": "77 weekly waves, Jul 2019 to Dec 2020"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Agree, disagree, not sure",
      "counted": "Agree",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Assault rifles",
      "survey": "Nationscape",
      "wording": "Ban assault rifles (file description)",
      "years": "77 weekly waves, Jul 2019 to Dec 2020"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Agree, disagree, not sure",
      "counted": "Agree",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Magazines",
      "survey": "Nationscape",
      "wording": "Limit gun magazines to 10 bullets (file description)",
      "years": "77 weekly waves, Jul 2019 to Dec 2020"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Agree, disagree, not sure",
      "counted": "Agree",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Ban all guns",
      "survey": "Nationscape",
      "wording": "Ban all guns (file description)",
      "years": "77 weekly waves, Jul 2019 to Dec 2020"
    },
    {
      "answers": "Four answers from strongly agree to strongly disagree",
      "counted": "Agree or agree strongly",
      "gap": "Democratic minus Republican",
      "item": "Control over rights",
      "survey": "Nationscape",
      "wording": "It is more important for government to control who owns guns than to protect the right to own guns (file description)",
      "years": "65 weekly waves, Sep 2019 to Dec 2020"
    }
  ],
  "id": "wording",
  "notes": [
    "A gap is written so that it is positive when the party that favors that side is higher: Democratic minus Republican for the gun control answers and Republican minus Democratic for owning a gun, easing concealed carry and prohibiting publication of owners' names.",
    "CES wording is quoted from the guide to the Cumulative CES Policy Preferences file; the file's own item labels are shorter. ANES and Nationscape rows give the file label or description because the full question text was not checked. The cumulative-file label for the buying-a-gun item says the government and the 2024 label says the federal government; the chapter does not claim the questions differ, and the answers are the same three in a different code order.",
    "The CES gun items are for or against each proposal in a list, so a middle answer is not offered; the ANES 2024 background check and assault rifle items offer neither favor nor oppose, which counts as not favoring."
  ],
  "source": "General Social Survey, ANES Cumulative Data File and 2024 Time Series, CES cumulative policy preferences guide and Nationscape codebook; question wording only, no weights apply",
  "spec": {
    "columns": [
      {
        "key": "survey",
        "label": "Survey"
      },
      {
        "key": "item",
        "label": "Item"
      },
      {
        "key": "wording",
        "label": "Question wording or file label"
      },
      {
        "key": "answers",
        "label": "Answers"
      },
      {
        "key": "years",
        "label": "Years used"
      },
      {
        "key": "counted",
        "label": "Answer counted"
      },
      {
        "key": "gap",
        "label": "Gap"
      }
    ]
  },
  "subtitle": "Question wording or file label, answers offered, years used, the answer counted and the direction of the gap, by survey and item",
  "title": "Each survey words its gun questions differently and counts a different answer",
  "type": "table",
  "width": "wide"
}