A recent study by a Massachusetts-based think tank delving into the differences between what Americans say publicly and what they think privately has revealed, among other things, that most people support private gun ownership, while 26 percent publicly support outlawing guns.

But in private, the study revealed, only 22 percent hold that view. What’s up with that?

According to John Fund, nationally-recognized political journalist currently writing at the National Review Online, this new study by Populace was designed to estimate “the gap between Americans’ privately held beliefs and their publicly stated opinions.”

The document is called the Social Pressure Index and is described as “a private opinion research study that reveals Americans’ true opinions about sensitive topics from a nationally representative sample of American adults, including more than 19,000 completed responses.”

Fund, speaking at the recent Gun Rights Policy Conference in San Diego, told his audience that younger Americans—referred to generically as “Gen Z”—show stronger support for gun ownership than the previous generation, identified as Millennials, 40% to 37%. The conference, co-sponsored by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, is available on YouTube. Fund appears about four and three-quarter hours into the segment.

Alarmingly, according to the Populace report, which spans 145 pages, “Private opinion  research shows…a majority (54%) of Millennials privately believe gun ownership should be illegal, and only 21% of Gen Z privately hold that view.”

The report immediately explains, “These gaps suggest the presence of competing social pressure, depending on one’s age: while many from Gen Z feel compelled to suppress their private disagreement and publicly agree with banning gun ownership, many Millennials feel compelled to do the opposite and hide their true support for making guns illegal.”

A short piece at MentalHealth.com offers some insight into this phenomenon. Titled “How Social Norms Affect Our Decisions,” author Carrie Steckl, an adjunct instructor in human services, relates how she perks up her evening classes by asking three somewhat provocative questions:

• Have you ever altered the way you act in public because you felt you had to behave in a certain way?
• What happens when you don’t act the way people expect you to behave?
• Do you expect others to act according to certain expectations depending on their age, occupation, or relationship to you?

“Social norms,” she writes, “sometimes influence major life decisions such as how to treat people, what career path to take, how to vote, and when and whom to marry.”

With a critical national election looming next month, how people react to peer pressure could have a direct impact on how the vote counts stack up. Will more younger voters support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, and Democrats down the ballot, or will they back Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, and down-ballot Republicans?

The Populace research also found that White and Hispanic Americans “are least supportive of outlawing gun ownership in public (24% and 31%, respectively), and their private support is even lower (16% and 20%, respectively).”

“Likewise,” the report continues, “a minority of Black and Asian Americans agree that gun ownership should be illegal, with roughly one in three supporting this view both publicly and privately (ranging from 32% to 41% agreement).”

Overall, the Social Pressure Index report notes, “According to both public polling and private opinion research results, support for making gun ownership illegal is a minority opinion.”

This appears to be steady “regardless of political affiliation.” However, and not surprisingly, the report says more Democrats than Republicans support a ban on private gun ownership.

“Privately,” the report says, “about one in three Democrats (31%) support making guns illegal, while only one in ten Republicans (8%) agree.”

There are other interesting revelations in the report, which asked 64 questions covering such wide-ranging topics as the degree of trust in government to personal finances, whether labor unions are good or bad, and on to immigration and support for Israel or the Palestinians.

For example, more Republicans (96% both privately and publicly) support voter ID laws than Democrats (67% publicly and 53% privately), while Independents support such requirements 77 percent publicly and 74 percent privately.

On the subject of whether the “greater good” is more important than individual rights, once again, only a minority of survey respondents believe the greater good is more important (publicly 28%, privately 18%).

“Democrats,” the index reveals, “show relatively greater public support for this view (about 15 percentage points higher agreement) than Republicans or Independents.”

Meanwhile, the notion of defunding police scores low marks both publicly and privately, the Index found. Only 18 percent of Americans agree with this publicly and only 2 percent support it privately. However, among Millennials, support for defunding runs 25 percent publicly, and among Gen Z respondents, 28 percent. However, “no generational group has more than 4% private agreement with this view,” the Social Pressure Index said.

About Dave Workman