What Sportsmen Think About Global Warming: National Opinion Poll

[Divernan]

This survey is a very valuable piece of information for all Dem Candidates come the fall election, showing the majority of outdoorspeople believe that global warming is occurring and that a major cause of it is fossil fuels, and that they favor immediate strong legislation and not "studies" of the problem. The majority of respondents agree that the U.S. should be a world leader in reducing global warming (80%); Global warming is an urgent problem requiring immediate action(67%);
Congress should pass legislation setting a clear national goal for reducing global warming with mandatory timelines because industry has already had enough time to clean up voluntarily (75%); the US should reduce its emission of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide (78%). The whole survey really is worth a read, and please pass it on to any candidates you're supporting in the upcoming elections.

http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/news/2006/05/a_survey_recent.html

2006
What Sportsmen Think About Global Warming: A National Opinion Poll
A survey recently conducted for the National Wildlife Federation shows an overwhelming majority of hunters and fishermen agree with the consensus in the scientific community that global warming is real, that it already is eroding their quality of life, and that it poses a definite threat to the future of two things they love: fish and wildlife.

Note that this was NOT a poll of liberal-leaning sportsmen; 73 percent of respondents consider themselves conservative to moderate on political issues. The survey was conducted by the research firm Responsive Management, whose client list includes numerous fish and game agencies and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (click here for a description of the methodology).

Check out the highlighted results by scrolling down, or click here to see the full survey. And let your opinions be known by writing in your comments in the box provided at the bottom of this entry. You can also tell the NWF where you stand on the issue by taking their online followup survey here.

[displacedtexan]

1. This was a winning issue in MI for Granholm in 2002...

when she was elected governor. It's still a winning issue.

[jody]

2. Respondents Republican 27% vs Democrat 31% and

Conservative 36%, Moderate 37%, Liberal 11%.

Looks like liberal planks aren't very popular.

[Divernan]

3. What's in a name? An environmentalist by any other name. . . .

The significance of this poll is that moderates and conservatives support the same action on global warming as liberals have been pushing for years. If you read through the specific questions, such as personal observations of global warming, they reported personally observing warmer or shorter winters (54%); earlier spring (37%); earlier bloom times (32%); hotter summers (39%); less snow (36%); drying wetlands (28%); unusual drought (30%); less ice cover on ponds, lakes and rivers(28%). ONLY 24 % ANSWERED THEY HAD SEEN NONE OF THESE CONDITIONS!
Respondents also stated they had observed more wildfires, unusual flooding, more intense storms, changing migratory bird pattersn, decreasing bird, fish or wildlife populaitons, new pests or invasive species. Only 38% said they had observed none of these.

AND FIFTY PERCENT IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AS EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS!

This tells us that global warming has become so evident that even evangelical Christians who voted for Bush disagree with the Bush administration official position on global warming. So politicians do not have to be liberal to have a winning issue by supporting actions to combat global warming.

[NNadir]

4. It is good news that it becoming obvious to everyone.

Politically it's good news since it points out (again) that Bush is a liar.

Environmentally it's good news since it motivates action. However it may be too little too late.

[jody]

5. Those who hunt and fish also support the right to keep and bear arms

for self-defense.

We Dems can gain their support if we convince them we are not gun-grabbers and actually mean what our party platform says, i.e. "We will protect Americans' Second Amendment right to own firearms, and we will keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists by fighting gun crime, reauthorizing the assault weapons ban, and closing the gun show loophole, as President Bush proposed and failed to do." See http://www.democrats.org/pdfs/2004platform.pdf

Those who hunt and fish have more in common with the Sierra Club and kindred groups and we Democrats than they do with the neo-cons who have hijacked the Republican Party.

We only need a few more percent of the voters to regain control of Congress and the White House.

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Gun ownership and politics aren't quite as clear cut as that...

...A trip to the gungeon and the Outdoor life group might be educational - A lot of dems enjoy DIY venison roast & duck à l'orange: I'd also hesitatingly point to NZ, which is a pretty liberal country but also a place where you can have a silenced .308 semi-automatic for a really fresh sunday roast. A lot of dems also support having handguns - and to be honest, if I lived in a big US city I'd be happier with one than without.

There might be a tendency for gun owners to be republicans, just as most vegans are probably democrats, but I don't think "us and them" is a good choice of words.

[jody]

7. I don't understand the point you are making. Please clarify. n/t

[Dead_Parrot]

8. Just highlighting an unfortunate turn of phrase

"We Dems can gain their support" sounds like democrats and gun-owners (or "hunters") are two mutually exclusive groups - and they're not, you can a democrat with a gun - or a unarmed republican - with no difficulty at all. I'm sure if I said "We dems can win the gay vote" over in the GBLT forum, I'd get roasted...

A quick search shows you post in the Gungeon anyway, though, so it's probably redundant information. I'll shut up. :D

[jody]

9. Thanks and have a nice day.

:hi: