Finally getting back to the points raised some time ago:
Which Americans and what gun control? I find that while "gun control" is often positively polled, the numbers change drastically when you word precisely what is intended by "gun control". Take these gallup polls for example:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx
Should gun policy be more strict? Most Americans answer yes. Then, when asked if they want to ban assault rifles, assault weapons or handguns, the majority say no. In the case of handguns, a whopping +46% say no. Harris supports an assault weapon ban, which automatically puts her on the wrong side of the gun policy polls. Unsurprisingly, this has cost her support.
According to the most recent polls listed on that website, the majority of respondents do support bans on assault rifles, although in the past the majority opposed them. This fits with other recent survey information I've found
here and
here.
What sort of rights do Democrats protect? What rights do Republicans plan to remove? As far as I understand it, the only strong difference these days is on the T. The majority of people in this Gallup poll answered that changing one's gender is "wrong".
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-lesbian-rights.aspx
Now, I'm not going to comment on whether it's wrong. What I am noting here is that the majority of people don't like the T in LGBT. Again, this is costing Harris support.
It's very misleading of you to point to the one section where the opposition won by a slim majority and ignore the section directly after where the opposition lost and by a bigger margin. I will say, though, that most polls I've looked up about public support for trans rights are all over the place, and it's hard to tell whether there are more results that suggest more people do support trans rights or the other way around. Nevertheless, whatever personal opinions Americans might hold about trans people's behavior, they're reasonably consistent in rejecting politicians who obsess over them. Ron DeSantis seems to be the only major politician who's found success lately in engaging closely with the culture war. Why this subject is apparently such a winner with him, I don't know, but then again, I also don't know why anyone would elect (and re-elect) an unpleasant, scowling little man with zero charisma or warmth who angrily snaps at his audience every time he gives a speech, so maybe Floridians are built different. There's a stark difference between personally disapproving of someone else changing their gender and voting for politicians who regularly rant about trans people and seemingly focus on them at the expense of issues that people actually care about, like the economy.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/majority-of-americans-reject-anti-trans-bills-but-support-for-this-restriction-is-risinghttps://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/anti-trans-platforms-lose-elections/https://www.yahoo.com/news/anti-trans-laws-not-politically-214632748.htmlNone of these are unbiased sources, admittedly, but their information seems legit, particularly with the election results. I can't think of any other major politician than DeSantis who's seen repeated success while building their identity almost entirely around reactionary culture wars. And of course gay rights are part of this subject. Imagine thinking that the GOP only has an issue with trans people and is totally cool with gay people all of a sudden. Laws restricting teachers mentioning homosexuality or banning books about gay relationships (while completely ignoring books or discussions about heterosexuality, because that's totally different), the rise in anti-drag bills, the "groomer" moral panic. In fact, that last one is the product of the current intellectual godfather of the conservative movement,
Christopher Rufo. He's never been elected to any office, but I can't think of anyone outside of Trump himself who holds more sway over Republican policy positions and conservative language than him. As I mentioned, the "grooming" moral panic was his idea. Remember when every conservative was ranting about "CRT"? That was also Rufo's idea. And remember when some months ago every conservative abruptly stopped talking about "CRT" and began talking about "DEI" instead? Once again, Rufo decided on a change of terminology, gave the order, and every conservative from Republican politicians to gamers ranting about diversity in video games on the Internet obediently began ranting about "DEI" instead, a term that 99% of them had undoubtedly never heard before. This stuff isn't spontaneous. The conservative movement in this country is more or less controlled by a relatively small handful of hyper-religious nuts like Rufo. They hate gay people as much as they hate trans people, and it's only a matter of time before the Supreme Court overturns
Obergefell and a coordinated attempt at striking down every gay marriage law across the country and put a federal ban into effect immediately goes into effect, just like it did with
Dobbs. And speaking of abortion:
This depends entirely on what you mean by "abortion rights". Do the majority of Americans support some form of abortion? The answer is yes. Do the majority of Americans support the Democrat party's particular flavor of abortion? No.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx
Over a third of Americans want abortion to be illegal entirely. The vast majority of Americans believe abortion should be possible only under "certain circumstances". More specifically, the vast majority of Americans think abortion past the first trimester should be illegal. Right off the bat, the Democrats have to fight over only 70% of voters who want some form of pro-choice. Only 22% of those voters want abortion to be legal under all circumstances. It could very well be that the "pro-choice" voters interested in mild abortion access end up voting for Republicans because they consider no abortion access to be better than a free-for-all.
This is a blatant strawman. No mainstream politician thinks that all abortions should be allowed with zero rules or regulations that take into account things like the progression of the pregnancy. It's Republicans who pursue an absolutist stance on abortion with their end goal of not allowing any abortions at all, not Democrats. By saying that some abortions should be allowed, people are agreeing with Democrats, not Republicans.