In polling, sometimes a candidate holds a commanding lead – maybe 65 or 75 percent – but polls on the issues rarely reach such a lopsided margin.

Except when it comes to guns.

In the wake of the latest massacre – the church attack in Texas that left 26 dead – a new national poll by Quinnipiac University found that voters’ support for universal background checks on gun sales is at an eye-popping 95-4 percent. Nearly unanimous. That’s up in the stratosphere along the lines of a response to a pollster asking, “Is the sky blue?”

It’s a bit higher than the lopsided support for background checks expressed in polling shortly after the traumatic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012. In the new poll, even among households where there is a gun, the numbers are virtually identical (94-5 percent in favor) with the overall electorate.

Yet, the survey also found that, despite unprecedented support for background checks without exceptions, plus strong backing for other gun restrictions, the majority of voters still doubt that tougher laws will prevent mass shootings.

Among the survey findings:

  • By another astounding gap, 91-7 percent, voters back a total ban on the sale of guns to people convicted of a violent crime
  • Stricter regulation of ammunition sales is supported, 62-34 percent
  • By a 74-24 percent margin, Americans want a ban on “bump stock” modifications that can make a rifle work like a fully automatic weapon. This machine-gun style upgrade was used by the shooter in the October Las Vegas massacre where 58 people were killed and another 546 were wounded or injured.
  • One of the most controversial measures, resuming the 1990s measure that made the sale of assault-style weapons illegal, is now supported by a score of 65-31 percent. Voters in gun households support such a law, 51-43 percent.

    At the same time, 59 percent of American voters say it’s too easy to buy a gun in the U.S., but only 37 percent say the ease of buying guns is the leading cause of mass shootings. Some 52 percent say the bigger reason is because it’s too difficult to get mental health care. It should be noted that loads of research shows that those suffering from mental health problems are no more violent than the population as a whole.Though stricter gun laws receive incredible amounts of support in this poll, only 34 percent of poll respondents say a crackdown would help prevent mass shootings. About 62 percent say shooters would find a way around stricter gun laws and commit these crimes anyway.I look at these conflicting numbers and I can imagine the poll respondents essentially saying: These constant mass shootings are crazy. We have to do something. But … I have to concede that none of these gun control solutions may work.

“With each American gun massacre, there is stronger voter support for tighter gun control measures,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll.

“But the cynical view prevails. Stricter laws will do no good whatsoever in a country with more guns than people.”