A new Marist poll conducted for ‘Morning Joe’ March 25-27 says that 87 percent of Americans want background checks for private gun sales and gun shows, with 59 percent supporting a ban on the sale of assault weapons.
The U.S. Senate is expected to deliberate gun legislation that will require universal background checks. But a Republican filibuster makes enactment uncertain. Democrats will try to add an assault-weapons amendment to the legislation, but it has little chance to win in the Senate, according to Mark Murray at MSNBC’s First Read.
In addition to the good news about public attitudes on reducing gun violence, the poll also indicated solid support for Democratic economic priorities, as Murray reports:

…The Morning Joe/Marist survey shows that Americans – by nearly a 2-to-1 margin – want President Barack Obama and Congress to make job creation their top priority (64 percent) instead of deficit reduction (33 percent),
Those who prefer Washington’s political leaders to emphasize job creation include 76 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Republicans; a narrow majority of Republican respondents (51 percent) want the focus to be on deficit reduction.
…Obama edges congressional Republicans by four percentage points, 44 percent to 40 percent, on the question of who has a better approach to deal with the federal budget deficit.
…Forty-two percent of respondents prefer a mixture of spending cuts (including to entitlement programs) and revenue increases; 35 percent pick increasing mostly revenue; and just 17 percent choose mostly cutting government spending (including to programs like Medicare and Medicaid).

Democratic policies on the economy and gun control are clearly on solid footing, while Republicans are defending the views of a shrinking minority on shaky ground.