Research conducted for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and released this week indicates that 90 percent of sportsmen are registered to vote and 82 percent say they vote in every (or nearly every) U.S. Presidential election.

Knowing this, is it any wonder why hunters, anglers, shooting enthusiasts and conservationists have become such an important target in congressional, gubernatorial and presidential elections in the last decade?

It’s all pretty simple, really.

Sportsmen vote.

And, there are a lot of us.

The third of a series CSF pre-general election surveys found that 85 percent of those polled said they voted in the 2004 election, with 55 percent voting for George W. Bush and 28 percent voting for John Kerry (11 percent failed to respond to the question).

More than three-quarters of those polled (76 percent) said they would prefer to elect a President who hunts and/or fishes, and nearly the same number (74 percent) said they’d prefer a President who personally owns firearms.

Responding younger sportsmen (ages 18-34) were the least confident that they will vote in November (71 percent definitely/probably), while 92 percent of those identifying themselves as Republicans were confident they will cast a ballot.

To add perspective to those numbers, 35 percent of those polled identified themselves as Republicans, 29 percent as Democrats and 30 percent as Independents. Further, far more sportsmen identified themselves as conservative (43 percent) and moderate (32 percent) than liberal (18 percent).

Performed in 2000, 2004 and now in 2008, this year’s Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation survey contacted and polled 1,009 sportsmen (78 percent) and sportswomen (22 percent) by telephone in July.