Nearly half of Americans believe the NRA has too much influence

The attorney general of New York, Letitia James, recently filed a lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association (NRA). The lawsuit alleges that NRA executives misused charitable funds for personal gain, engaged in self-dealing, and made misleading disclosures to the attorney general and the IRS.

A statement from the NRA President on Twitter said, “This was a baseless, premeditated attack on our organization and the Second Amendment freedoms it fights to defend.” The NRA has filed a suit against James, claiming that her actions violate the organization’s First Amendment rights.

What do Americans think about the NRA’s political influence?

Data from an August 2020 YouGov poll of more than 28,000 Americans finds that almost half the country (48%) believes the NRA has too much influence in US politics. About one-quarter (23%) think the NRA has the right amount of influence, and 9 percent say the organization has too little influence.

Democrats (76%) are more likely than Independents (46%) and Republicans (14%) to say that they believe the NRA has too much influence in US politics. About half (49%) of Republicans believe that the NRA has the right amount of influence.

Previous YouGov polling from September 2019 found that 43 percent of Americans thought it was accurate to characterize the NRA as a “domestic terrorist organization.” About two-thirds (65%) of Republicans believed that was a completely inaccurate characterization.

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Related: Is gun control legislation even possible in America?

Methodology: The survey is based on the interviews of 28,495 US adults aged 18 and over. Interviews were conducted online August 7 – 10, 2020 and results are weighted to be nationally representative.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story included a chart that contained a calculation error.

Image: Getty