A survey on public support for hunting

Those of us in the hunter education instruction arena had taught our students that about 10 percent of the American population supports hunting, about 80 percent of the population are non-hunters, and a final 10 percent of the population actively oppose hunting. Of that 80 percent of non-hunters, most support other people hunting as long as the harvested meat is used to feed folks, either the hunter’s family or a charity group like a food bank.

I read an article published on the Outdoor Life website which discussed a survey about a recent decline in hunting approval among America’s youth, minorities, and suburbanites. A new survey of Americans’ attitudes toward hunting, fishing, trapping, and recreational shooting shows support for all those activities dropped over the past three years, even as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed more people into America’s woods, waters, and shooting ranges.

Quoting from the article, “The drop in public support for legal field sports comes after nearly 30 years of increasingly favorable attitudes, and may reflect a wider and growing discomfort with activities that are considered the domains of mainly white, rural, older males.” The survey was conducted by a group called Responsive Management who have been surveying Americans about their attitudes toward hunting, fishing, trapping, and shooting for over 30 years, asking the same questions every three years in order to establish reliable long-term trends.

Quoting again, “This survey is quite sensitive to changes in attitude, and all of the drops in approval are statistically significant,” says a company spokesperson. “These are not incremental changes, but rather meaningful drops. Each one percent of change represents 2.5 million Americans, so when we see approval go down by 3 to 4 percentage points, we’re talking about as many as 10 million Americans.”

Two years ago—when the survey was last conducted—there was 81 percent support for legal hunting, according to that same spokesperson. “Now we have 77 percent. And on the other end of the spectrum, when we ask about disapproval of hunting, we see that rise from 12 percent to 17 percent of Americans. That’s worth looking at and taking note of.”

The report broke down the percentage of support by region and, surprising to me, the west had the lowest level at 74 percent. The Midwest had the highest support percentage at 80 percent. The south came in at 78 percent and the northeast had 75 percent support.

Some of the demographics identified in this study show that while 77 percent of Americans strongly or moderately approve of legal hunting, only 65 percent of African American residents approve of legal hunting. The group with the lowest approval of legal hunting—at 61 percent—is Hispanic or Latino Americans. And in terms of age groups, while 81 percent of Americans aged 55 or older approve of hunting, only 69 percent of respondents from 18 to 34 years old approve.

Generally speaking, the groups that had the highest favorability toward hunting are those who have hunted, shot recreationally, or fished in the past three years, live in a rural area, are male, white, or Caucasian, 35 years or older, live in the Midwest, and reside in a small city or town. The groups with the lowest approval of hunting are Black, Hispanic, did not fish or shoot in the past three years, are between 18 and 34 years old, are female, live in the Pacific West region, and reside in a large city, urban area, or suburban area.

This demographic breakdown seems to explain why the west has the lowest approval rate for legal hunting, as influenced by the states of Washington, Oregon, and California and their left-leaning political administrations.

“The survey also measured regional attitudes toward recreational shooting, legal recreational fishing, and regulated trapping. The region with the highest fishing approval was the Midwest (92 percent) followed closely by the South (91) and the West (90 percent). Approval for recreational shooting was strongest in the Midwest, with 82 percent favorability. Meanwhile, only 73 percent of New Englanders approve of shooting, with 22 percent disapproving of the activity. Support for trapping was strongest in the Midwest, with 54 percent approving of the activity. It was lowest in the West, with 51 percent approving, and 32 percent disapproving.”

The surveying company noted similar trends in five other studies they did for state agencies. The spokesperson stated, “I can tell you that we are definitely losing support among younger Americans.” We are not talking to minority communities, and we need to reach out to urban people and women.