Public Policy Polling’s (PPP) new poll garnered responses from Pennsylvanians on a range of issues including criminal background checks of persons attempting to obtain a firearm, the EPA’s plans to limit carbon emissions from power plants, an increasing or elimination of the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and support or opposition to Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Background Checks

Out of the 1,106 Pennsylvanians surveyed, 85% reported that they supported criminal background checks in the process of purchasing a firearm, 9% said that they opposed background checks and 6% said that they were unsure towards the issue.   

Respondents who supported background checks displayed overwhelming large support for President Barack Obama, 94% of people that voted for Obama in the 2012 election being in favor of background checks. Similarly, 78% of people that voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 election also support background checks.  

88% of women support background checks, but 82% of men are in favor. Respondents that support background checks for firearm purchase tended to be liberal, and identified with the Democratic Party. The 30-45 age range was most supportive of background checks.

EPA

The EPA’s proposal to address climate change by placing limits on the amount of carbon pollution from power plants received strong favor from 40% of Pennsylvanians surveyed, was somewhat favored by 24%, was somewhat opposed by 14%, strongly opposed by 16% and 6% of respondents were unsure.  

The 18-29 age range was most likely to strongly favor the EPA’s proposal.  63% of Democratic respondents reported strong favor for the proposal, while only 13% of Republicans reported strong favor. 27% of Republican respondents somewhat favored the proposal. Women were overall more likely to support the proposal than men.

Minimum Wage

The poll next asked respondents about their views on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

24% polled reported that they would support raising it to $15 an hour, 19% would support raising it to $12 an hour, 31% would support raising it to $10 an hour, 15% support maintaining the current minimum wage, 8% support eliminating the federal minimum wage altogether and 3% were unsure.  

Half of the African-American respondents reported favor a $15 an hour minimum wage, while 24% support a $12 an hour minimum wage and no African-Americans supported the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.  

The 18-29 age group was most supportive of both a $15 an hour minimum wage as well as a $12 an hour minimum wage. On average, the more liberal a respondent identified as, the more in favor they were of a higher wage. The more ideologically conservative a respondent claimed to be, the more likely they supported maintaining the current wage or raising the wage to $10 an hour.

Healthcare Reform

Finally, 41% of respondents said that they support the ACA, 38% oppose it and 21% were unsure of whether they support or oppose the act.  

Not surprisingly, 73% of respondents who voted for Obama in the 2012 election support the ACA; 20% were unsure. 75% of those who voted for Romney in 2012 oppose the ACA; 17% were unsure. 

45% of female respondents claimed support for the ACA, while only 36% of male respondents reported that they were in favor of the ACA. 49% of men surveyed were opposed to the ACA.  Support and opposition to the ACA was relatively evenly distributed over all age brackets.  

Public Policy Polling surveyed 1,106 registered voters from June 3rd to 5th. 80% of participants, selected through a list based sample, responded via the phone, while 20% of respondents who did not have landlines conducted the survey over the internet through an opt-in internet panel. The margin of error is +/- 3.0%.