Poll: Most Americans say Congress, Trump not doing enough to stop mass shootings

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption White House: Listening session to 'find best path forward' The White House says a listening session this week is for students, parents and teachers to speak with the president and hopefully find the best path forward so 'incidents like this don't happen again'. (Feb. 21)

A majority of Americans say President Trump and Congress have failed to do enough to prevent mass shootings in the wake of last week's Florida high school massacre, according to a new poll.

The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 77% of Americans do not think Congress is doing enough to stop mass shootings, while 62% don't believe Trump himself is doing enough.

Comparably, only 19% believe Congress is doing enough, and only 29% said Trump is doing enough.

The poll was conducted Feb. 15-18, after a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school last week. It surveyed 808 adults and has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Trump has meetings scheduled this week to discuss tougher gun laws with students and local officials. He has expressed some support for some changes to the gun background check system, which could open the door to a bipartisan congressional proposal designed to improve the sharing of mental health and criminal record information between state and local agencies and the federal background check database.

“While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

According to the poll, gun control was a divisive topic across party lines. Of all the people surveyed, 58% said that shooting could have been prevented with stricter gun control laws.

But Democrats overwhelmingly supported that statement (86%). A majority of independents also they believed stricter gun control could have prevented the shooting (57%). Only 29% of Republicans thought more restrictive laws could have helped.

Comparably, most people (77%) believed mental health screening and treatment could have prevented that shooting. Broken down by political party, that belief was supported by Democrats (78%), Republicans (77%) and independents (78%) alike.

Contributing: David Jackson