Orlando Sentinel March 10, 2002
Poll: Space program generates low enthusiasm in public
By Gwyneth K. Shaw
WASHINGTON -- Americans are not enthusiastic about an ambitious space program and would cut NASA's budget before other critical national priorities, an Orlando Sentinel poll shows.
The survey found little support for a long-discussed manned mission to Mars and revealed a general sentiment favoring a space program that yields practical research benefits, said Thomas Riehle, president of Ipsos-Reid U.S. Public Affairs, which conducted the national poll for the Sentinel.
The poll did show backing for the space shuttle program and the international space station, which is mired in cost overruns and uncertainty about its long-term scientific value.
More than half of those polled said the shuttle program should continue, while 42 percent said the space station was somewhat important, and 19 percent said it was very important.
Riehle said the results indicate that the public fascination with reaching for the stars has been tempered by more earthly concerns such as the war on terrorism. Even those who support the shuttle and space station were somewhat lukewarm in their endorsement, he said.
Romantic notions fade
"There is a changing perception of NASA's role as less of a romantic or patriotic mission and much more a science and research mission," Riehle said. "And where there is support for NASA, it is soft support."
Riehle's firm asked 1,000 people nationwide seven questions about the space program for the poll, which was conducted late last month. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
When asked which federal program should be cut first to fight budget deficits, 37 percent of those polled tapped the space program, compared with 26 percent who chose tax cuts. Only 9 percent said spending on NASA should be increased -- although 46 percent said it should be kept at its current level of roughly $15 billion per year.
Using previous polls conducted by the Gallup organization for comparison, the support for more dollars for the space program is the lowest it has been since 1993, Riehle said.
On top of that, more than half of those polled opposed a manned mission to Mars -- and 11 percent agreed with a statement that NASA no longer has a purpose and should be disbanded.
U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., said the numbers didn't surprise him. Public support for the agency is directly connected with the average person's ability to relate to NASA, he said, and these days that can be difficult to do.
"Today, while the space program is doing things that are more technically complicated -- and in many ways, more valuable to our nation and the lives of individual citizens -- it isn't as dramatic as it was in the 1960s," he said.
The poll results show differences among respondents based on gender, income and education level. Men who are relatively well off financially with at least a college degree professed the strongest support for NASA, while women and less-educated, lower-income respondents expressed less interest.
Riehle said that's the opposite of the typical response to government programs, especially those that offer some kind of service or help.
John Pike, space-policy expert and director of the defense think tank Globalsecurity.org, was more blunt.
"Rich white men like the space program; other people don't," he said. "Rich people are prepared to spend money on luxuries that poorer people aren't."
Price tag plays role
Economic concerns may have influenced some of the answers. Many of the questions included a price tag for programs such as the space station or a theoretical mission to Mars, estimated at more than $200 billion.
The strong opposition to such a mission, Riehle said, can be partially attributed to the exorbitant costs. However, the response jibes with the overall preference for research, and not exploration, among those polled.
"People are telling us that the mission is research, and the mission is not the two more romantic notions, which would be exploring the universe or sending people to Mars," he said. "Both in terms of the direction and who cares about it and the overall size of it, it doesn't look like price was a primary factor, although obviously it was one of the considerations. When price was not an issue, they also said research is what we want. The romantic mission is not of interest to people right now."
Need more information
Pike disagrees. He said the problem with any Mars mission is that NASA has never been able to explain what the purpose of such a trip would be. In addition, he said, the agency has done little over the years to promote itself or to capture the attention of the tens of millions of Americans who aren't following space exploration closely.
But NASA should be paying attention to public opinion, Pike maintains. And the agency should be catering to a core audience of "space cadets" -- junkies who follow the program's every move.
Those who run NASA should be careful not to lean too heavily on the idea of turning the agency into a research and development arm of commercial and private industry, Pike said.
Flight stirs imagination
"The Air and Space Museum is the most visited place in Washington," he said. "But people don't go there to see Tang and Velcro. They go there to boldly go where nobody has gone before. To the extent that people pay attention to the space program, it's because it's part of the American myth and the American dream. It's not because of Corningware."
Graham, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he hopes the war on terrorism will help publicize some of the valuable contributions the space program has made to the nation's defense. He supports efforts to reach out to college students to help recruit the next generation of scientists and engineers, and to work with private businesses to develop products that are relevant both to space and everyday life.
"I don't think there's a silver bullet, but I think that what's needed is a series of initiatives, all of which are aimed at demonstrating to the American people what happens to be the truth: That a great deal of our security and our personal well-being has a relationship to the space program," he said. "I don't think that NASA should try to convert itself into a publicity machine, but the American people have made an enormous investment in space through NASA, and it's appropriate that the American people understand what they have bought for that investment."
U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, a Republican whose district includes the Kennedy Space Center, said he was "heartened" by the overall level of support for the space program shown in the poll. But he said the questions were slanted against NASA.
Michael Cabbage of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Gwyneth K. Shaw can be reached at gshaw@orlandosentinel.com or 202-824-8229.
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