Forty-three percent look more favorably on the Second Amendment right to bear arms. This gender gap may be driven by a different self-image. Men see themselves as protectors of the family home, its sentinel against invasion. The noise in the night, the creak on a lower floor sends currents of electricity to their nervous system. This is especially the case among Democrats, who won Senate approval last week of a measure demanding background checks on those who buy firearms at gun shows.
Republicans remain divided.
Where the majority of voters will cast their ballots on a spectrum of issues in 2000, this tough minority of men will never forget who was with them in '99 and who was against them. It's not surprising that the one Republican candidate for president who is taking on the gun boys is the one, Elizabeth Dole, mostly looking for girl votes.