The 64-point gap separating Republican and Democratic views about the National Rifle Association is the biggest delta in the 29-year history of Gallup's analysis.

The results, according to Gallup:

88 percent of Republicans hold a favorable view of the NRA.

24 percent of Democrats hold a favorable view.

53 percent overall view the NRA favorably.

42 percent overall view the NRA unfavorably.

Further, the 88 percent favorability rating is a record high for Republicans, according to Gallup.

Republicans have always held more favorable views of the gun lobby than Democrats but the spread has never been this large. In 1993, 60 percent of Republicans and 50 percent of Democrats held favorable views of the NRA, and the gap has widened ever since.

"The large partisan gap may be turning support for the NRA — and by extension, gun control legislation -- into a litmus test for candidates from the two parties," RJ Reinhart wrote in his analysis for Gallup.

"Given the high percentage of Republicans who view the NRA favorably, it may be extremely difficult for a GOP candidate who opposes the group to win a primary election. Likewise, a pro-NRA Democrat may have trouble emerging from a primary to run in a general election," Reinhart wrote.

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted June 1-13 with a random sample of 1,520 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.