An analysis by the Washington Post of last weekend’s “March For Our Lives” proves that the rally was hardly a youth movement, and it wasn’t grassroots. In fact, despite the explicit purpose of the rally, most people that attended weren’t even there because of gun control.
Just 1 in 10 people at the March was under age 18, undercutting the media narrative that the Parkland students are leading an uprising of students to finally accomplish what adults failed to for decades. The average age? 49. The marchers were also mostly female (70 percent) and college educated. 72 percent had a Bachelor’s degree. On average, this was a march by middle-aged professional women. That’s a similar makeup to the crowd for most liberal marches.
What’s most interesting of all though is that most didn’t attend this pro-gun control march for the cause of gun control.
To quote directly from the Washington Post:
Only 12 percent of the people who were new to protesting reported that they were motivated to join the march because of the gun-control issue, compared with 60 percent of the participants with experience protesting.
56 percent of them said they showed up for “peace” and 42 percent claimed they were there to protest Trump.
March for Our Lives protesters were also more likely to identify as ideologically moderate. About 16 percent did so, higher than at any other protest event since the inauguration. But unsurprisingly, it was still a very liberal crowd: 79 percent identified as “left-leaning” and 89 percent reported voting for Hillary Clinton.
So, the March attracted almost entirely liberals to demonstrate for a left-wing cause. That’s hardly an “uprising” on an issue.
Meanwhile, the NRA reports that their political arm, the “Political Victory Fund,” collected $779,000 in individual contributions in February. That’s a massive increase from $248,000 in January.
The gun control crowd is attracting the same folks, while the NRA continues to take in tens of thousands of new members every month.
Surprised by these findings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
