NASA, Space Exploration, and American Public Opinion
Since the 1960’s, the American public has often felt proud and largely supportive of NASA and its’ mission. While the contours and intensity of that support have changed with the decades, the core perception Americans’ have of their space program hasn’t altered and cuts across every available demographic slice of the country. However, this unity is not a feature of the system destined to continue unchanged, and 2020 is already proving to be a tumultuous year for the ages. It’s appropriate to dive into the recent polling data and recap where the public stands on NASA as the country proceeds through a pivotal election cycle and a general period of mass uncertainty.
Polling data for this article is heavily sourced from the Nirgal.org Polling Database, and includes four high quality polls taken in 2018 and 2019 conducted by Pew, CSPAN/IPSOS, CBS, and AP-NORC. These polls were extensive and focused exclusively on space related issues, creating a large pool of data for us to review and analyze.
In short, the American public has very positive feelings towards NASA and its missions, and generally sees space exploration as beneficial to society. This support is uncommonly broad in what is often a divided nation, but a deeper dig into the data reveals far more nuance and uncertainty, as well as some divisions and disagreements.
