When asked to write the “most important problem facing this country today,” an average of only 2 percent of Americans listed “Guns/Guns Control,” according to a recent Gallup poll.
The poll found that the most frequent responses were “Congress/Government/Politicians,” which were listed by an average of 16 percent of respondents.
President Obama announced a series of executive orders on Tuesday that would enforce gun control by requiring licenses for all gun sellers and background checks for those purchasing guns. It would also require the hiring of over 200 new NICS examiners by the FBI to conduct the background checks and over 200 new ATF agents and investigators to “help enforce” the new laws.
[RELATED: President Obama Outlines, Defends Gun Control Executive Orders]
However, while Obama called for a national “sense of urgency” on the importance of enforcing gun control, it was listed 19th out of the top 23 “most important problems facing this country,” according to Gallup’s poll.
Gallup conducted monthly polls throughout 2015, interviewing 1,000 adults each month via cellphone and landline calls, with a margin of sampling error of ±1 percentage point at the 95% confidence level.
CNS News noted that while “only one percent of respondents mentioned guns/gun control as a concern for most of the months in 2015,” mentions increased to 7 percent with mass shootings in Roseburg, Oregon, in October, and in San Bernardino, California, in December.
[RELATED: Oregon Shooting Suspect Identified; Obama Calls for Gun Control]
Other problems that were listed at the same average rate as “Guns/Gun Control” were the “Judicial system/Courts/Laws,” “Environment/Pollution,” “Lack of Respect for each other,” “Lack of money,” “International Issues or problems,” and “War/Fear of War.”
While “Government/Congress/Politicians” was listed the most frequently, the “Economy in general” came in second at 13 percent and “Unemployment/Job” and “Immigration” were tied for third at an average of 8 percent.
Responses such as “Race relations/Racism” and “Terrorism” were listed by 5 percent of respondents, while responses such as “Poverty/Hunger/Homelessness,” and “The situation in Iraq/ISIS” were listed by 3 percent of respondents.