Michigan Wildlife Council Shows Strong Success in Maintaining Public Support for Hunting and Fishing

[Mark Damian Duda]

As Americans’ approval of hunting continues to decline, Michigan stands apart as one of the few states where approval has held steady for several consecutive years. On the national level, approval of hunting has declined from a high of 81% in 2021 to 73% in 2025. In Michigan, however, a multifaceted communications campaign by the Michigan Wildlife Council, in partnership with marketing agency Fusion92, has helped to maintain approval of hunting from at least three-quarters of the public since 2021—in other words, unlike the national trend, approval of hunting in Michigan has remained stable. Michiganders’ approval of fishing, another major area of focus of the Council’s public outreach, has also stayed consistent over the same period. More importantly, crosstabulations of the results show that the Council’s outreach efforts are making a measurable difference. For example, among residents who saw or heard messages from the Michigan Wildlife Council in the previous 6 months, approval of legal, regulated hunting rose to 82%, compared to 70% among those who had not seen the messages. These findings come from the latest scientific trend survey conducted by Responsive Management for the Council; by measuring attitudes toward hunting, fishing, and related topics, the survey helps to assess the impacts of the Council’s continuing outreach and education work.

 

Please click here to learn more about the survey findings.

 

Mark Damian Duda

Executive Director

Responsive Management

ma...@responsivemanagement.com