New Poll in the New Hampshire Senate Races Shows Support for Kelly Ayotte Slipping as Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC Reminds Voters of Her Record of Standing with the Gun Lobby
July 21, 2016 – A new poll in the New Hampshire Senate race shows Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC’s (ARS PAC) -endorsed candidate Governor Maggie Hassan leading the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire over gun lobby-backed candidate Kelly Ayotte following a six-figure advertising campaign by ARS PAC to hold Senator Ayotte accountable for her record of voting to protect the loopholes in federal law that let felons and domestic abusers buy guns without a criminal background check in unlicensed sales at gun shows and through the Internet. ARS PAC-endorsed candidate Governor Maggie Hassan has voiced her support for closing the background check loopholes in federal law.
As part of its “Vocal Majority” campaign this fall to mobilize millions of Americans to make the 2016 election a referendum on gun violence prevention, ARS PAC has aired two ads (here and here) each backed by six-figure buys already this year in the New Hampshire Senate race to hold Senator Ayotte accountable for voting against laws that help keep guns out of the wrong hands. Click here to watch “Safety,” and click here to watch ARS PAC’s most recent ad in the race, “Mislead.”
The new poll, which was conducted by WMUR and the University of New Hampshire from July 9 – 18, shows Governor Hassan leading Senator Ayotte 45 percent to 42 percent. Since her first vote to protect the gun lobby backed loopholes in our background checks system, Senator Ayotte’s favorability rating has plummeted from 51 percent to 42 percent.
The WMUR poll reinforces findings from research done on ARS PAC’s behalf in June showing that Senator Ayotte’s unfavorability among likely New Hampshire voters is growing and her support slipping as voters hear more about her record on gun violence. The research found Governor Hassan’s lead over Senator Ayotte has increased from two points to four points from May as the debate over guns intensified, and ARS PAC’s communications to voters have shifted the conversation dramatically: the number of voters who know that 9 out of 10 people in New Hampshire support background checks increased from 9 percent to 21 percent, and more than half (52 percent) now know about the significant contributions that Ayotte has taken from the gun lobby, a 7-point gain. Click here to read more.
“Senator Ayotte’s record of standing with the gun lobby is coming back to haunt her. This is another sign that the vocal majority of Granite Staters are sick and tired of Senator Ayotte’s calculated attempts to mislead them into thinking she voted to close the loopholes in our nation’s gun background check system,” said ARS PAC Executive Director Peter Ambler. “Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC is committed to ensuring that Granite Staters know there is only one candidate in this race who will stand up to Washington gun lobby, protect our Second Amendment rights, and make our communities safer – and that candidate is Maggie Hassan.”
Senator Ayotte has maintained consistent record in Washington of voting against more criminal background checks for gun sales. In April 2013, Senator Ayotte voted against a bipartisan proposal to close the loopholes in federal law that let felons, domestic abusers, and the dangerously mentally ill buy a gun without a criminal background check at gun shows and through the Internet, even though February 2013 research found that 91 percent of New Hampshire voters – including 90 percent of gun owners – supported the measure. In December 2015 and in June 2016, Senator Ayotte once again voted to protect the loopholes in our background check system. Click here to read a memo on Senator Ayotte’s record of voting against requiring criminal background checks for more gun sales.