Shawn Johnson

Wisconsin Public Radio

Roughly four out of five Wisconsin voters favor universal background checks for gun purchases, according to the latest poll by Marquette University Law School.

A total of 81 percent of voters said they supported background checks on private gun sales and at gun shows. Just 16 percent opposed them.

The strong support was in line with the last time Marquette asked about background checks in June 2016. In that survey, 85 percent favored universal background checks compared to 12 percent who were opposed.

Marquette also asked voters whether they would favor banning "assault-style weapons." On that question, 58 percent said yes compared to 40 percent who said no.

While the results are in line with historic trends, they come in the aftermath of the Florida high school shooting that left 17 dead in February.

When Marquette asked voters how much they thought new gun control laws could reduce the number of mass shootings, 12 percent said "a great deal," 22 percent said "a moderate amount," 19 percent said "a little" and 43 percent said "not at all."

The Marquette poll interviewed 800 registered voters from Feb. 25 through Thursday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

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