Survey finds hunters, anglers favor John McCain

A survey has found that John McCain holds a considerable lead over Barack Obama in the race to become president — among hunters and fishermen.

Given that there are an estimated 40 million hunters and fishermen of voting age in the United States, there’s some significance to their thinking and it may have helped the current president win two terms.

We all know what happened during the second term: the vice president, on one of his hunting trips, accidentally filled a fellow hunter full of birdshot.

But that’s beside the point. The point is, many Americans consider hunting and fishing — and certainly their right to own guns — part of their heritage and prefer a leader who cherishes those same values and would be inclined to protect those values in an era in which they’re being increasingly threatened.

The survey, conducted by Braun Research, polled 1,009 sportsmen of which 45% said they’d vote for McCain, while 31% tilted toward Obama.

Asked whom they’d rather hunt with, 49% said McCain, 27% answered Obama. As a fishing partner, 44% favored McCain over Obama (31%).

“They’re just not sure how much fun Barack Obama would be in a duck blind,” said Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which helped underwrite the survey.

None of this is surprising, since many serious sportsmen are Republicans, and considering that the survey was conducted on behalf of sportsmens’ rights groups that already knew what it would conclude.  Here at Outposts, we support hunting and fishing but will not get political, unless you count the irresistible reference to Dick Cheney’s 2006 nonfatal shotgun blasting of Harry Whittington during a Texas quail hunt.

That was an accident, of course. Accidents happen to everyone.

—Pete Thomas

Photo: Current and former presidents Bush Jr. and Sr., avid sportsmen, return to Walker's Point off Maine after a 2007 fishing expedition. Voters who hunt and fish tend to favor leaders or prospective leaders who share similar values.
Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Michael]

This is what passes for hard hitting journalism these days, pathetic....

[B58]

I am an avid angler and participant in outdoor sports, as well as an Obama supporter. Barack Obama can fish in my boat any day.

[The anti-AMAL]

AMAL:

You are far more enlightened than the rest of us. Biologically, I am a carnivore. Nature has placed me at the top of the food chain. I believe in nature, not God, not man, but nature. And nature has provided me with lesser creatures for my nutrition and sustenance. Trust me, your lack of respect for me is oh so distressing.

Tell the lions and tigers "we're all equal partners!" Serisouly, get a grip on reality.

And, learn how to turn your CAPS LOCK off.

Oh, and please don't be so ignorant to think that the U.S. is the only country where people hunt "on a full stomach." I'm originally from Austria, a country with a financially comfortable population... hunting is well respected and a very popular pasttime as well. Maybe you aren't so enlightened after all.

On the original post topic, I wouldn't want to hunt/fish with either tweedle-dumb or tweedle-dumber. They're both elitists looking to impose their cultural views on others... just like AMAL. The only world in which AMAL will be happy is one with no diversity, in which everyone looks/thinks just like him/her.

[Bud]

I'm an angler, I'd rather fish alone and have Obama be the President of the United States.

[Kathleen]

This angler supports wild fish, clean water, healthy watersheds, a smart energy policy, and Obama!

[Emily]

Often people vote for whom they feel comfortable with. This isn't wrong... and if 'birds of a feather flock together" then usually those with the same beliefs may seemingly enjoy the same activities. I don't think it is fair to rail these people for voting in this manner. It isn't hard to believe, and shouldn't be made fun of.

Seriously.

[JD]

I love reading all of your liberal dribble, it makes me laugh.

[John Galt]

I like how people assume that all hunters and anglers are of a lesser intelligence just because they don't sip espressos and chai tea in some starbucks somewhere. Just because someone lives in the country and hunts and fishes does not mean they are any more or less intelligent than anyone else.

[Bob]

Not all anglers prefer McCain... Go BO!

[Dennis]

Consider the numbers. Among the minority group of sportsmen--of which I am one--just 14% favor McCain over Obama. What does that translate to in actual numbers and why does that pathetically low number rate a news story?
Are we perhaps witnessing more media bias, or perhaps, more realistically, more media manipulation of the available information

[David McGuire]

Let me get this straight: rednecks like the old, white career soldier-turned politician who voted against the MLK holiday?
Of course they do! 'Maverick' is the encore to Bush's pitiful Cowboy act. The rednecks will eat it up!

File this under 'How is this news?'

[PJK]

Just because they'd like to go fishing or hunting with him doesn't mean they'd vote for him.

Hell, the guy can't even tell you how many houses he really owns.

His fishing and hunting stories are probably just as believeable.

[James]

Another horribly biased story brought to you by the LA Times. This is probably the least news worthy piece I have ever seen, err If it wasn't for all the other lamo stories the Times puts out.

LET PEOPLE PICK THE PRESIDENT ON THEIR OWN AND STOP USING SLICK MEDIA TACTICS TO INFLUENCE THE VOTE!

[Al J]

I want to defend John McCain from all this slander. I'm a sportsman and owner of several successful companies in the petroleum business. I support John McCain. If the Democrats win I believe they will introduce tax policies which which will harm my industry's incentive to bring oil to YOU. Many of us in the oil industry are sportsmen too, and have a good record of minimizing environmental issues at the same time meet the demand for energy.

[sculler1956]

Let me get this straight.... a guy who graduated just off the BOTTOM of his class from the Naval Acadamy..... who in 20 hrs of flying WRECKED every(?) plane he had assigned to him.... and is so "IN TOUCH" that he can't remember how many houses he owns..... We want him to be President??? Doesn't the last 7-1/2 years show we need someone SMART in that role?

[Bobby]

In two and a half months, Obama will have plenty of time to go hunting and fishing.

McCain is going to be too busy setting up his new Cabinet.

[Bo]

Yeah, the Onion has total details on this kind of election coverage. I believe McCain is strongest with hunters and anglers who have at least 2 but not more than 5 vowels in their name. Keep up the top notch journalism!

[Frank Smith]

I came across this story from my iGoogle start page. Like most, I saw the article as a big rsounding "duh". What's surprising and terribly disappointing, is the snide and rude remarks made by so many who are for Obama. "retarded ", " dumb dumb BUBBA SPORTMEN " "Hunters and anglers usually aren't the most intelligent people" "Who cares what hunters and anglers think about anything" . Um, folks, the best trait in intelligence, culture and cilvility boils down to good old fashioned manners. Calling someone names because they don't agree with you is something most of ours moms taught us not to do as children. It's been my experience that the quicker someone resorts to namecalling or yelling, the more likely they are to be unable to defend their position in a serious and calm debate. This election should be determined by careful consideration and thought by everyone. The fact that someone doesn't agree with you is by no means a sufficient reason for name-calling. And lastly, yep, I hunt and fish. I also have an I.Q. of 148, enjoy the occasional cup of chai and listen to classical music while I do the Sunday crossword in pen. So be careful with the glittering generalities of uneducated, stupid rednecks. You're assuming, and you know what happens when you assume? You make an ASS out of U and ME.

[Sharon]

My family has always fished - freshwater and ocean. We also own two Vizlsas - Hungarian bird dogs. Yes, we hunt as well.

We are not supporting John McCain. This gentlemen has been found to lie right an left with a straight face. His whole history has been based upon living life on the edge and making poor decisions.

We are not worried about any new laws taking our gun rights away for hunting.

Go Obama!!!

[Pauline]

If the American people have not had enough of GWB and his antics, then we deserve whatever is coming our way...I was alot better off, 8 years ago. JM is another Bush Boy..and his presidency would be an extension of Bush policies. The turmoil that the republicans put this country in should be considered a crime. WE NEED TIME TO RECOVER From this mess.

They keep saying Obama isn't ready to lead...well where were we led the last eight years? and under whose watch? The Ivy league C student. Yeah he sure was ready to lead..(If daddy and Jeb can do it, so can I)..led us to recession, war, failed policies, lies etc etc

JM is an older George Bush, let he and his heiress wife go somewhere and spend their millions while the rest of us try and put our children through college, keep our homes out of foreclosure, hope our jobs aren't outsourced to China all the while finding a way to pay for health insurance and $4/gallon gas. America the beautiful.

This country had better wake up before we all meet the same fate as the Romans. A wise man once said "we had better learn to live together as brothers or die together as fools"..

[wilder5121]

No self-respecting hunter or fisherman would ever support the corrupt Republican party, whose mission is the destruction and sale for development of every last wild place in America, and the dismantling of all the protections which keep natural systems and animal populations healthy.

The GOP and their owners dream of the day when every inch of America is condominiums and parking lots...and work feverishly toward that goal.

These "hunters" and "anglers" surveyed in this poll must be mega-millionaires who do canned hunts on their private estates...like Dick "Elmer Fudd" Cheney.

[CuriousJack]

I find the majority of comments here very interesting. According to many of the posts, hunters and fishermen are all ignorant rednecks. I didn't know that. I will have to inform my family and my hunting partners just how ignorant they are. I guess the Nuclear Engineer, the Electrical Engineer, the Doctor of Anatomy and Neurophysiology, the Cardiologist, the Law Professor and the CEO of a $1,000,000,000 company will just have to accept their lower positions in life. On second thought, I won't do that because we also hunt with a farmer, a firemen, a policemen and a machinist. It just wouldn't be polite to insult them. We are so backwards that we actually judge people by their character. You see, we are not as elite and omniscient as many of the posters.

Granted, our choices this election cycle are less than perfect. Having said that, I will be voting against Obama. In Illinois he supported the handgun ban in Chicago. He also voted against the bill that prohibited prosecuting people who use a handgun to protect their family in a justifiable self defense situation. The Illinois bill was created to protect a husband and father who defended his wife and two children by shooting an armed robber who broke into his house. He had just moved into the state and didn't know he had to register his handgun. Most states don't require registration. The whole idea of a President who doesn't acknowledge the right of citizens to protect themselves against violent criminals frightens me.

I also disagree with his tax plans for reasons too numerous to mention. His views on foreign policy are foreign to me. His economic education leaves a lot to be desired too. He may be a great law professor and community organizer but I am looking for a CEO with experience to run this country.

Having said that, I don't expect you to agree with me but I do expect you to be civil, polite and respectful. I don't think that is asking too much from individuals who obviously are well educated and culturally refined.

I hope you are being honest and really are outdoors men. I am a bit skeptical because I have never heard so much hate and vitriol from the hunters and fishermen I have had the pleasure of knowing.

[Cameron]

I just read a study concluding petty name calling towards presidential candidates is inversely proportional to I.Q. Thank you fortifying my personal distaste for not just the democratic party, but the individuals who comprise it.

[Jeffrey]

Judging by the character exhibited by the above Obama boosting posters, I'd much rather align myself with hunters and fisherman.

[Armand]

Wow what a bunch of whiny LA LA LAND losers - Republicans are evil - induced labor abortions good! Obama has loser written all over him - prepare yourselves.