Poll: Most favor Obama on gun control

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans support President Barack Obama's proposals to address gun violence, an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Thursday found.

The telephone survey of 1,033 adults, conducted Jan. 16-20, found 53 percent view Obama's proposals favorably while 41 percent view the proposals unfavorably.

Thirty-eight percent said they strongly approve and 31 percent said they strongly disapprove of the president's proposals for universal background checks on all guns sales, reinstatement of a federal ban on military-style assault weapons, a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines and armor-piercing bullets, new restrictions on gun trafficking laws and greater access to mental health treatment, ABC News said.

Seventy-six percent of Democrats approved of the president's proposal while 72 percent of Republicans disapproved. Independents favored the proposals 51 percent to 44 percent.

Fifty-six percent of women and 49 percent of men supported Obama, as did 58 percent of seniors and 47 percent of young adults.

The poll found support for the proposals has slipped since a similar ABC News/Washington Post on the same questions this month.

The survey's margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.