Tracking The Hook And Bullet Vote
A new nat'l poll of sportsmen finds that most hunters and anglers are conservative GOPers, but that the constituency swung from heavily GOP in '04 to about even between the two parties in '06. The poll, conducted by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, surveyed 603 sportsmen nationwide and 1,014 sportsmen in the Rocky Mountain West.
It found that sportsmen voted for Pres. Bush over John Kerry by over a 2-to-1 margin in '04. Hunters favored Bush, 65-15%, and anglers supported him, 54-27%. In '06, however, the poll found that two parties tied the sportsmen vote -- GOPers claimed 36% and Dems took 35%.
The biggest shift was in WY, where sportsmen supported Bush by a 70-17% margin in '04, but in '06 gave the GOP candidate 43% and the Dem one 35% -- a whopping 45-point shift. The survey, which had a margin of error of +/- 4%, asked why those sportsmen had abandoned the GOP for Democrats, but that particular sample is too small to be reliable.
But, for what it's worth, the No. 1 reason sportsmen who are registered GOPers voted for Dem in '06 was because of the “conservation platform of a specific candidate.” Conversely, Dem sportsmen who supported GOP candidates cited guns rights and the Second Amendment as the No. 1 reason. Overall, sportsmen told pollsters that they were looking for pro-gun, pro-conservation candidates.
The poll [really big PDF] was conducted by Responsive Management, which conducted its interviews by live people and obtained its sample from hunting and fishing licenses. One other interesting finding (that unfortunately hits home): Anglers cited “Not enough time and not enough fish” as the most common reasons why they aren’t catching ‘em look in the good ole days. [PATRICK OTTENHOFF]