evidence: Polls consistently show majority support for gun background checks [...] In an April 2022 poll, The Economist/YouGov asked about requiring "criminal and mental background checks" for all gun buyers — a specific phrase we didn’t see regularly in all polls. It found 72% overall either strongly or somewhat favored, while 83% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans held that view. [...] Polls during the past few years show overall support for gun background checks in the ballpark of 90%. Kerr suggested the statistic applied regardless of political party, and it clearly does for Democrats, who often support background checks at rates higher than 90%. But among Republicans, we found some polls suggesting their support is closer to the 80% range, slightly less than Kerr suggested.