What happened to the 90% that's been thrown around?

[Crashola]

Apologies if this has already been posted. But this Pew Research/Washington Post poll puts the lie to the 90% statistic.

http://www.people-press.org/2013/04/24/mixed-reactions-to-senate-gun-vote/

The key Senate vote that halted gun control legislation last week is drawing a mixed reaction from the American public: 47% express negative feelings about the vote while 39% have a positive reaction to the Senate’s rejection of gun control legislation that included background checks on gun purchases.

 

[jmr40]

It depends on how you word questions. If you ask "are you in favor of background checks if it would reduce gun violence", I'm sure over 90% of responders would say yes. Any survey can be worded in such a way to get the response you want.

If you were to word the question "are you in favor of background checks even though there is no proof it would reduce gun violence and cost millions of dollars in tax money for nothing", you get a different response.