The percentage of Americans saying they want "stricter gun laws" has spiked in the last year to its highest point in 12 years, according to a new Gallup poll released Monday.
In the poll, 38 percent of Americans said they were dissatisfied with current gun laws and wanted stricter laws put in place, according to the poll. That's up sharply from last year, when only 25 percent preferred stricter measures.
But a majority of Americans — 43 percent — were satisfied with current laws. That's down from 50 percent last year, meaning there's been a 20-point swing in just one year of Gallup's polling on the topic.
The poll comes as Vice President Joe Biden prepares to present President Barack Obama with his recommendations for curbing gun violence in the wake of the elementary school massacre last month in Newtown, Conn. Biden is expected to deliver a wide array of recommendations, including a renewed ban on assault weapons, a limit on high-capacity magazines, closing the so-called "gun show loophole" on private sales, and instituting stronger background checks.
"After a decade of little change in Americans' overall level of satisfaction with the nation's gun laws, significantly more now express dissatisfaction and want laws to be stricter," Gallup senior editor Lydia Saad wrote. "It's yet another sign that the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December have given Americans pause on the issue, at least in the short term."
Here's a look at the drastic shift over the past year:
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