Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) said on Sunday that he does not believe a recent CNN poll that found more Americans support stricter gun laws than at any time since 1993.
“I just don’t believe the poll. I just think it is an outlier poll,” Santorum told “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper.
Seventy percent of respondents in the CNN poll released on Sunday said that they support stricter gun laws, up from 52 percent in October.
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Santorum said he doesn’t trust the poll because it surveyed a disproportionately small number of Republicans.
“That poll only had 23 percent Republicans in the poll,” he said. “The numbers should be more reflective of the 35 to 40 percent that is Republican in this country.”
Thirty-three percent of those polled self-identified as Democrats and 44 percent identified as independents or members of another party.
The CNN poll found only 27 percent of Americans oppose stricter gun laws, although when polled on specific gun restrictions there was wider disparity in responses.
A majority oppose a complete ban on weapons, including 93 percent of Republicans, 87 percent of independents and 83 percent of Democrats.
Santorum noted that after the Florida school shooting that left 17 people dead there has been pressure to find a way to stop the killings, but said he does not believe gun control measures have ever been proven to be successful and banning guns “is never going to happen.”
He instead called for the nation to reassess the effect absent fathers can have on children.
“In my opinion, certainly gun control is a debate that we need to have but another debate we need to have is something that is also common in these shootings: the fact that these kids come from broken homes without dads,” Santorum said. “That is not something we are talking about and that is the commonality.”
Tapper pointed out that the alleged Florida shooter’s dad had passed away, but Santorum said 75 percent of school shooters since Columbine did not have fathers at home.
“This is a serious issue and we are not talking about it,” Santorum said.