BEREA, Ohio - Registered voters in Ohio - both Democrats and Republicans, and men and women - support a wide range of new gun regulations, according to results released Thursday of a statewide poll conducted by Baldwin Wallace University.

The school's Community Research Institute polled 1,011 registered voters from Feb. 28 through March 9 and found:

91 percent support banning gun sales to people convicted of violent crimes. (There are

75 percent support raising the minimum age to buy semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21.

74 percent support a mandatory waiting period on all gun purchases.

68 percent support banning equipment such as bump stocks that can make semiautomatic guns work more like automatic guns.

62 percent support a ban of high-capacity or extended ammunition magazines that allow some guns to shoot more than 10 bullets before they need to be reloaded.

61 percent support a ban on high-powered rifles capable of semiautomatic fire, such as the AR-15.

Each of these ideas was supported widely by both men and women polled, though moreso by women.

About two-thirds of Ohioans are concerned about the potential of a mass shooting in their area and/or in their child's school, the poll found.

The poll has a margin of error of three percentage points. Quotas and weighting were applied to reflect Ohio's makeup for political affiliation, age, gender, race, education and income.

Republicans and Democrats agree



"There was almost no partisan difference on a mandatory waiting period for gun purchases," noted Michael Brown, one of the students who worked on the faculty-mentored polling project by the institute, which has been conducting scientific polls for years.

A mandatory waiting period was supported by 77 percent of the independents polled, 72 percent of the Democrats and 69 percent of the Republicans.

Also winning support by similar shares among Republicans (92 percent) and Democrats (94 percent) was the idea of banning gun sales to people convicted of violent crimes.

Solid numbers from both parties - Democrats (90 percent) and Republicans (68 percent) supported raising the gun-purchasing age to 21.

The lowest support among Republicans was for banning high capacity or extended ammunition magazines (52 percent), and banning rifles such as the AR-15 (51 percent). Both ideas were favored more widely among Democrats. Yet, in each area, a majority of both Democrats and Republicans voiced support.

A change in the political climate?

"It makes you wonder if this is an issue where Republicans and Democrats can come together to enact policy change," Lydia Maendel, another student involved in the polling project, said in a news release announcing the results.

That would reverse a trend in Ohio politics, where even the last Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, was supported by the National Rifle Association.

Republican John Kasich replaced Strickland in 2011 and went on to sign bills:

Allowing guns in bars and restaurants.

Lifting the ban on guns in parking garages below the Ohio Statehouse.

Reducing the hours of training required for a concealed handgun license.

Shielding public and media access to lists of concealed handgun licensees.

Permitting concealed handguns in public airport areas, child care centers that choose not to prohibit them, and on college campuses if school leaders allow it.

But Kasich in early March announced his support for a series of six gun violence recommendations made by a bipartisan panel he assembled.

Among those ideas are banning the purchase of firearms for third parties, and allowing friends or family members to seek court orders to remove firearms from people who post a threat to them.

Decisions are now in the hands of state lawmakers, because the state in 2006 passed legislation banning cities from enacting gun legislation more restrictive than state law. The bill to take away local control on the issue was vetoed by Republican Gov. Bob Taft, but his veto was overridden by the legislature.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner.