Perhaps no topic divides voters more deeply than the role that firearms have in American life.

By overwhelming margins, Joe Biden’s supporters prioritize gun control over gun rights and say gun ownership does more to reduce than increase safety; roughly eight-in-ten Biden supporters (83%) say the increase in guns in the U.S. is at least somewhat bad for society.

By comparable or even somewhat larger margins, Donald Trump’s supporters express opposing views on all three measures.

Underscoring the divisiveness of this topic, Americans even disagree about whether gun violence is a major national problem. In a separate survey, 68% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say gun violence is a very big problem, compared with 27% of Republicans and Republican leaners.

How Trump, Biden supporters view gun rights and ownership

For the most part, attitudes about guns are fairly similar among Trump’s supporters, as well as Biden’s. This underscores the deep differences between the two coalitions. 

Still, there are some internal differences within each coalition.

Among both the Trump and Biden coalitions, voters living in rural areas are more supportive of gun rights than urban voters. There is a similar pattern in views on gun safety.

Among Trump supporters

White Trump supporters are more likely than Hispanic Trump supporters to say it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own a gun (89% vs. 70%) than to control gun ownership and that gun ownership does more to increase than decrease safety (90% vs. 71%).

Women voters who back Trump are somewhat less likely than his male supporters to support gun rights and say gun ownership increases safety. Still, more than eight-in-ten women and men who support Trump hold these views.

Views on the increasing number of guns in the U.S.

The share of Americans who say they own a gun – or that someone else in their household owns a firearm – has remained steady in recent years. But other evidence, including data on gun sales, shows a rise in the overall number of guns in the country.

Voters overall are divided over whether the increase is good or bad for society: 52% say it is very or somewhat bad, while 22% say it is good and a quarter say it is neither good nor bad.

Relatively few Trump supporters (21%) view the growing number of guns negatively; more say it is a good thing for society (40%) or neither bad nor good (38%).

Biden supporters (83%) are nearly four times as likely as Trump supporters to say the increase is a bad thing.

Among Trump supporters, nearly twice as many women (28%) as men (15%) say the increase in guns in the U.S. is bad for society. Trump supporters who live in urban (28%) or suburban (24%) areas are more likely than rural Trump supporters (14%) to view this trend negatively.

Large majorities of Biden supporters across demographic groups have a negative view of the increase in the number of guns. Still, a larger share of Biden supporters with a four-year college degree (91%) say this is bad thing than do those who do not have degree (77%).