Poll: Florida Voters Favor Armed Guards at Schools Over Gun Control

The PPD-BDP Sunshine State Battleground Poll finds Florida voters favor posting armed personnel on campus during school hours to prevent mass shootings over stricter gun control laws. Last week, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The tragedy has sparked a renewed push from Democrats for stricter gun control laws.

Overall, 56.7% say placing “armed security, police and trained personnel on campus during school hours” will “do the most to reduce the number of school shootings.” That compares to just 43.3% who think “stricter gun control laws” are needed.

However, voters are evenly divided over the need for stricter gun control laws versus mental health reforms in general, 50.4% to 49.6%, respectively. That’s a change from past surveys conducted by Big Data Poll, which typically found mental health reforms more popular. While only about 31% of Republican voters in Florida support beefing up gun control laws over mental health laws, roughly 68% of Democrats and 52% of independents, agree.

“I suspect this is a reaction to the tragedy last week and more than likely a temporary one, but it’s too soon to know for certain,” Rich Baris, the director of Big Data Poll said. “Support among independents and Republicans isn’t particularly firm.”

The PPD-Big Data Poll Battlegrounds conducted highly-accurate statewide surveys in 2016, including in the state of Florida. The Sunshine State Battleground released on November 6 found Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton by 1.6%, rounded up to two points.

He won by 1.2%.

Can’t read the crosstabs? View them on Google Sheets!

BDP Sunshine State Battleground Poll Questionnaire 02-18*

AAPOR Transparency Initiative Checklist PPD-BDP Sunshine State Battleground Poll Feb

*(Big Data Poll logo on the survey questionnaire is NOT visible to panel respondents.)

Big Data Poll conducted the mixed-mode survey of 910 registered voters in Florida from February 17 to 18, 2018. The survey has margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. The mixed-mode breakdown was a total of 609 interviews conducted using interactive voice response (IVR) and 301 conducted by online survey panel (OSP).

The data are weighted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education and income based on projected voter turnout. Partisan affiliation is derived from a proprietary likely voter model and demographic weighting, not the other way around.

The sample identified a partisan split of 32.64% Republican, 32.09% Democrat, 31.10% Independent and 4.18% “Something Else.” Read about methodology here.