The FINANCIAL -- With the last planned U.S. space shuttle currently circling the globe,
Americans are slightly more supportive of the NASA program than they
were a year-and-a-half ago.
Still, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 50% of American Adults believe the 30-year-old Space Shuttle program has been worth the expense to taxpayers. Twenty-seven percent (27%) do not believe the program has been worth the cost, while another 23% are undecided.
These findings are little changed from a survey conducted last October, but the number who says the program has been worth the cost is up from 40% in January 2010.
Looking ahead, 38% of adults believe the government should fund future space programs, but 33% say such programs should be funded by the private sector. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are not sure. While those sentiments are little changed from October, voters were more evenly divided on the question last April.
Only 18% of adults believe the government should spend more money on space exploration in the future, while 30% say the government should spend less. A plurality (40%) thinks the government should spend about the same amount of money on space exploration as it did before.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on July 9-10, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Overall, 74% of Americans believe it as at least somewhat important for the United States to have a manned space program, including 35% who say it’s Very Important. Twenty percent (20%) don’t think a U.S. manned space program is that important, but only three percent (3%) say it’s Not At All Important.
Similar support can be found for unmanned space research. Seventy-three percent (73%) say it’s at least somewhat important for the United States to have a space program that relies on unmanned ships. Seventeen percent (17%) don’t see much importance in such a program. These findings include 29% who see this as Very Important and three percent (3%) who say it’s Not At All Important.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Americans share a favorable opinion of NASA, including 30% who view the government space agency Very Favorably. Seventeen percent (17%) view the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at least somewhat unfavorably, with four percent (4%) who hold a Very Unfavorable opinion.
Opinions of NASA have improved over the last year. In January 2010, 64% viewed the agency favorably. That number reached 80% in October.
But not as many adults (56%) have been following news stories about the final space shuttle mission at least somewhat closely, including 19% who are following Very Closely. Forty-one percent (41%) say they haven’t been following closely, but just seven percent (7%) have not been following at all.
Men are much more likely than women to believe the space shuttle program was worth the expense to taxpayers. Men also see more importance in both manned and unmanned research programs than women do.
Elderly Americans are more likely than those in other age groups to think the space shuttle program has not been worth the cost.
Back in late 2006, 57% of Americans said that, overall, the Space Shuttle program has been a success. Only 17% disagreed, but 26% weren’t sure.
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