There’s a strong correlation between gun owners and Republican voters. As we can see in The Washington Post-prepared graphic above based on exit poll data from the Virginia governor’s race. “Voters were about evenly split between those who live in households with and without a gun,” the WaPo reveals. “[Democratic candidate Ralph] Northam won voters in households without a gun by a . . . .
giant 73 to 26 percent margin, larger than Clinton’s 40-point margin over Trump last year and McAuliffe’s 35-point margin in the 2013 governor’s race. [Republican candidate Ed] Gillespie won gun-owning household voters by 24 points, almost identical to Trump’s 23-point advantage last year.
So if more voting Virginians were gun owners, Gillespie would’ve won! Or not. Because as the graphic above points out, correlation does not equal causation. Except, of course, when it does. In this case, does it?
Does being Republican make you more likely to own a gun, or does owning a gun make you more likely to vote Republican (and less likely to vote Democrat)?
If the latter’s true, the Republican party should be doing everything it can to create new gun owners. A GLOCK in every pot! Government vouchers for concealed carry classes! By the same token, if more guns equals less Democrats, no wonder Democrats are [only slightly abashed] opponents of firearms freedom.
What’s the truth here?