Over half of Americans (56%) express a favorable view of the National Rifle Association, although only 17% of voters say they are more likely to vote for John McCain if he is endorsed by the pro-gun lobbying group.

In fact, 21% of all voters in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey say an NRA endorsement of the Republican candidate makes it more likely they will vote for his Democratic rival Barack Obama.

For six out of 10 voters (61%), however, the NRA endorsement will make no difference.

The endorsement while good for McCain in terms of advertising support and perhaps generating voter enthusiasm closer to Election Day has had no impact on support for he or Obama. Only a statistically insignificant 1% of Obama voters say they would be more likely to vote for McCain because of the NRA endorsement; none of McCain’s voters said they would be more likely to vote for Obama.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of voters overall view the NRA unfavorably.

While 65% of men view the NRA favorably, only 47% of women agree, with nearly as many (42%) rating the group unfavorably. Seventy percent (80%) of Republicans give the group favorable marks as opposed to 39% of Democrats.

Both the favorability and unfavorability ratings of the pro-gun group are up since a Rasmussen Reports survey released a year ago following the Virginia Tech campus shootings. At that time, 45% of Americans had a favorable opinion of the NRA, while 33% viewed it unfavorably.

The new findings come in a survey taken after a Houston-area grand jury on June 30 decided not to charge a man who killed two illegal immigrants he caught robbing a neighbor’s property. In the Nov. 14, 2007, incident, the 62-year-old man tried to stop the men at gunpoint after they had burglarized the neighboring house.

When the two unemployed Colombian nationals came into his yard, the man said he felt threatened and shot them. The neighbor was out of town at the time. Texas law allows the use of deadly force for self-protection and in limited instances to protect a neighbor’s property.

Only 43% have followed the Texas story even somewhat closely, and of that group the majority agreed that he should have been cleared of all wrongdoing. Sixty-five percent (65%) of those who have followed the story very closely believe the grand jury made the right decision, as do 52% of those who followed the case somewhat closely.

A separate Rasmussen Reports late last month found that the Supreme Court went up in the estimation of many Americans after it declared Washington, D.C.’s long-standing ban on handguns to be unconstitutional. The NRA has opposed the ban and other laws like it for years.

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