Majority of hunters, anglers support Waters of the U.S. rules, bipartisan survey finds

A survey of 1,000 hunters and anglers found that 83 percent support the Environmental Protection Agency's Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rules and 75 percent "agreed that it provided 'important safeguards for drinking water supplies, fish and wildlife habitat and public health,'" Whitney Forman-Cook reports for Agri-Pulse. The survey was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican research firm, and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democrat affiliated firm, for the National Wildlife Federation.

"Eighty-two percent of the sportsmen respondents said water quality protections could be compatible with economic prosperity," Forman-Cook writes. "Seventy-seven percent of Republican respondents said they were supportive, and 77 percent of self-described Tea Party voters—who made up 49 percent of the 1,000 respondents—indicated support. Seventy-nine percent of independents and 97 percent of Democrats said they supported the rule as well."

Regionally, 86 percent of respondents from the Northeast support the rule, 85 percent from the Midwest, 81 percent from the South and 79 percent from the West, Forman-Cook writes. "In terms of gender and the rural/urban divide: 87 percent of female and 81 percent of male anglers and hunters surveyed as supporters, and 77 percent of rural sportsmen concurred." (Read more)