Measuring Cultural Support for

Hunting in Rhode Island

Responsive Management has measured cultural support for hunting since 1995: in that year, 73% of adult Americans approved of legal hunting. Since then, Responsive Management has conducted periodic follow-up surveys to continually assess trends in public sentiment toward hunting. These surveys have found that overall approval among U.S. residents generally ranges from 73% to 80%.

Cultural support for hunting, meaning how Americans feel about the right for people to go hunting, is widely recognized as one of the most important issues affecting wildlife management in the United States. For example, in Responsive Management’s annual survey of wildlife management and R3 professionals for the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS), educating the public about hunting has ranked as the single most important overall priority for CAHSS three years in a row.

Educating people about hunting as a way to build and maintain support is separate from R3 efforts to increase hunting participation. In fact, maintaining public approval of hunting is a broad initiative relating to the very societal conditions that make hunting participation possible in the first place. Simply put, hunting can only take place in a culture that approves of it. In this way, public approval of hunting is the umbrella under which all aspects of hunting participation exist.

Recognizing the importance of public support for hunting, CAHSS has contracted with Responsive Management to measure Americans’ approval of hunting on an annual basis. Like many others in the conservation community, CAHSS wildlife management and R3 professionals recognize that, without public support for hunting, wildlife management becomes infinitely more difficult. For example, declining approval of hunting may result in management decisions dictated through ballot box biology or state wildlife commissions being undermined by non-scientific interests.

Responsive Management has conducted more than 50 research studies over the years on how people relate to hunting, including their basic support for or opposition to different types of hunting, hunting of various species, and hunting for different reasons. Many of these studies have examined attitudes on the national level, such as Responsive Management’s recent surveys for CAHSS (which look at general trends in U.S. residents’ opinions) and recent Responsive Management research for the Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundation (which looked at specific factors driving the slight decline in national approval of hunting between 2021 and 2023).

In addition to nationwide studies, Responsive Management also routinely measures attitudes toward hunting on the state level to assist agencies and organizations with communications efforts and messaging campaigns. One such state survey was recently conducted for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife (the Division), to determine public approval of hunting, fishing, and sport shooting in Rhode Island. The study entailed a scientific survey of Rhode Island adult general population residents, and the results will help inform the Division’s statewide R3 plan.

“By understanding the attitudes of Rhode Islanders, we can better tailor our educational efforts and conservation initiatives to help ensure that hunting remains an essential part of our state's ecological stewardship,” said Emily Peacock, Supervising Wildlife Biologist, Outreach & Education, of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife. “The results from this survey will guide our outreach efforts and inform our R3 plan, reinforcing hunting's role as a sustainable and vital tool for wildlife conservation in Rhode Island.”

Responsive Management’s survey found that about three out of four adult Rhode Island residents approve of legal hunting and legal recreational shooting with firearms. Specifically, 73% approve of legal hunting (including 33% who strongly approve), while 19% disapprove (12% strongly disapproving). Regarding legal recreational shooting with firearms, 72% of Rhode Island residents approve (with 37% strongly approving), while 22% disapprove (14% strongly disapproving). (Note that percentages are calculated using unrounded numbers. For example, in the hunting approval graph below, 33.2% of residents who strongly approve and 39.3% who moderately approve results in an overall approval percentage of 72.5%, which rounds up to 73%.)





Other notable results from the Rhode Island survey include the following:

• The demographic groups in Rhode Island most likely to approve of legal hunting include males, residents of small cities or towns, and middle-aged residents between the ages of 35 and 54. On the other hand, the groups most likely to disapprove of legal hunting include residents of large cities or urban areas, females, and residents age 55 or older.

• Once again, males are among the groups in Rhode Island most likely to approve of legal recreational shooting. At the other end of the continuum, the groups most likely to disapprove of legal recreational shooting include females, Hispanic/Latino residents, and Black/African American residents.

• Overall, about nine out of ten Rhode Island residents agree that, no matter their own personal opinion on hunting, it is okay for other people to hunt if they do so legally and in accordance with hunting laws and regulations.

• Regarding top-of-mind perceptions about the term “legal hunting,” Rhode Islanders most often mention the importance of following regulations and laws, or give responses related to food or wildlife management. Regarding “recreational shooting sports,” Rhode Islanders commonly think of people going to ranges, or the importance of safety in recreational shooting activities.

• Regarding various reasons for hunting, Rhode Island residents are most approving of hunting for food (e.g., meat, locally sourced food) and hunting for ecological reasons (e.g., conservation of healthy wildlife populations, wildlife management). By contrast, they are least approving of hunting for a trophy, for the challenge, or for sport.

For more information on this study or Responsive Management's other research on cultural support for hunting, please contact Responsive Management at research@responsivemanagement.com.



Special thanks to Emily Peacock, Supervising Wildlife Biologist, Outreach & Education, and Daniel Lehman, Hunter Recruitment, Retention & Reactivation (R3) Coordinator, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, for their assistance with this project.



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