Evolving American Attitudes on NASA & Space Exploration
Since the dawn of Apollo the American public has long had a complicated view of NASA and US space exploration. While overall opinion has historically been quite positive, it is fluid, and interest levels vary widely across society.
There are indications public opinion may again be shifting due to recent growth in the space economy and rising visibility of industries like space tourism. Shifts in public opinion could potentially impact public policy-making and alter the decision-making in Congress.
Overview & Major Questions
Understanding recent public opinion on space exploration is best done by looking at 11 public polls conducted between June 2018 through July 2022 that ask about NASA and space. Breaking down this tremendous amount of data reveals some obvious conclusions as well as some fascinating questions for future research.
The polls used for this analysis are listed below, please explore them further:
A few polling notes:
Please note this list is not exhaustive for the time period covered. Other polling data exists and could be incorporated into any future analysis. Also note that polling is not an exact science and treat these figures as well informed range estimates rather than rock-solid precision measurements. Finally, a huge thank you to all polling firms included; public polling is not easy work in the 21st century.
Data Breakdown
There are a few major data points that become obvious when studying the polling data. Some are well-known public factoids and others are less discussed.
NASA is broadly popular.
NASA enjoys a highly favorable public image, with positivity extending across both genders and all political affiliations. With any sort of unfavorable feeling under 20% regardless of how you slice it, NASA is easily one of the most broadly popular institutions in modern America.
NASA’s popularity extends to questions of funding, but it’s clear most people do not fully understand federal budget dynamics.
With all but 1 exception in the last 40 years, the majority of Americans have wanted to either maintain or increase NASA’s budget. This trend has been increasing since 2010 and is now at its highest level in at least four decades.
However it is also abundantly clear in all of the polling data that the public wildly overestimates how much money NASA actually receives from the federal budget.
Most Americans have some level of exposure to and are interested in space and astronomy.
Whether watching an eclipse or a rocket launch on TV, most Americans have at least some exposure to space and astronomy. A majority also express an interest in space exploration or astronomy. It is clear there is a difference between the 20% or so who are ‘highly engaged’ and the 50-60% who are ‘somewhat engaged’.
Most Americans do not want to travel to space themselves.
While they are interested in space, most people don’t actually want to go there. This has risen with recent generations and it’s possible Gen Z may be the 1st “majority space-oriented” generation. Many cite a wide range of factors both for and against space travel, a fascinating insight into the calculus Americans are increasingly making in the rising age of space tourism.
There is a gender gap regarding favorability towards space exploration, but its origin isn’t clear.
Most of the available polling confirms that men tend to be more “pro-space” than women, although very few offer secondary questions or data points that explain why this seems to be the case.
This is not to say that women are “anti-NASA” which is simply untrue as both men and women offer largely favorable ratings across the board, men just tend to be more strenuous and universal in their support.
There does not appear to be such a significant gap between generations.
Support for space (or lack thereof on certain issues) tends to be relatively equal across generations. According to this specific data from Pew, it appears Millennials tend to be slightly more supportive of crewed missions, but verifying that would require comparison to a larger and more robust data set.
Data in previous sections does confirm younger Americans tend to be more likely to want to travel into space themselves, which could be indicative of rising favorability towards space issues among younger Americans.
Partisan differences only appear on questions of climate change.
Democrats and Republicans alike agree that the International Space Station has been a good investment, that asteroid defense should be a top NASA priority, and that the US should remain a world leader in space.
Democrats are far more supportive of NASA’s climate work, a reflection of the broader politicization and polarization of that subject.
Americans tend to be very Earth-centric in their space priorities.
Asteroid defense and climate monitoring routinely top the list of priorities when people are asked to specify what they think NASA should be doing.
If there is any issue in the realm of space exploration that actually inspires legitimate and substantive opposition, it’s crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. While still favored to some extent by a majority of the public, the margins are by far the narrowest of any issue polled. This feature appears repeatedly across the available data.
But this may be changing…
Some recent polling data shows a rise in support for a crewed mission to the Moon or Mars. The full dynamics aren’t clear and it’s uncertain any rise in support would be maintained, but it would be significant.
A robust rise in support for crewed missions could give ammunition to NASA proponents and space advocates and put pressure on Congress to increase funding for NASA.
Most Americans believe in extraterrestrial life, but not necessarily that it’s visited us here on Earth.
Belief in life elsewhere cuts across generations, with younger Americans slightly more “life exists but has never been here” and Boomers more prone to believe we’ve been visited directly. Only 1 in 5 Americans outright reject the existence of life off of the Earth, a perhaps surprisingly small number.
Summary
In short, Americans are pro-NASA but Earth-centric in setting America’s priorities and are happy with maintaining or increasing NASA’s budget but don’t fully understand it. And while most Americans enjoy participating in passive space and astronomy activities, they have no desire to go to space themselves.
There is much agreement across political and generational lines, with men being more fervently pro-space than women.
Most Americans also believe life exists elsewhere in the Universe, although they disagree as to whether we’ve been visited by ET.
While these insights are informative, they pose even more questions that are worthy of follow-up in the future.
Questions for the Future
There are a number of interesting tidbits, factoids, potential trends, and perplexing questions that pop out from this extensive polling analysis. These bear further watching in the years ahead, and some require targeted analysis to fully understand the dynamics at play.
Americans appear to favor a Mars mission over a return to the Moon, but the dynamics of support for crewed missions are poorly understood.
Although we’ve established that Americans are more Earth-centric with their space priorities, the dynamics behind this aren’t entirely clear. Some specific questions come to mind that would be worth investigating in the future:
Who are the strong supporters of crewed space missions? Do differences by gender, education, or political affiliation appear?
Mars appears to be a more popular destination for crewed missions than a return to the Moon, but why? Are there any notable differences in who supports what types of missions?
How has the long-term favorability of crewed missions trended, and is it actually rising in recent years? If so, why?
What is the root of the persistent gender differential in the data?
Further investigation of the gender dynamics behind support for space exploration would be a highly worthwhile analysis. While it appears in multiple polls across a range of question types, very few provide additional insight into why the differential exists and the crosstabs are too small to offer worthwhile analysis.
There are some specific questions worth asking moving forward:
Is the gender difference uniform across generations, or has it changed in recent years? If so, how and why?
What is the role of historic discrimination and exclusionary behavior in NASA and the space community?
What are the characteristics of the ‘High Interest’ and ‘Zero Interest’ groups?
The data reveals a roughly 20-60-20 split between High-Moderate-Low levels of space interest. It would be highly revealing to provide a detailed analysis of the various demographic characteristics of these groups.
Certain questions bear specific follow up:
What are the core educational, gender, racial, and generational differences between the High and Zero Interest groups? It may be necessary to explore other avenues with limited polling data available (including religion).
Is it possible to measure the change in these groups over time? If so, what does that reveal?
Many More Questions to Answer
These three important areas of follow up are only some of the many questions that could be asked after looking at all of the polling data. Yet they make clear that there is still much more to understand about American public opinion on space exploration.
Overview
This extensive data analysis has revealed the following major conclusions regarding American public opinion of NASA and space exploration:
NASA is broadly popular.
NASA’s popularity extends to questions of funding, but it’s clear most people do not fully understand federal budget dynamics.
Most Americans have some level of exposure to and are interested in space and astronomy.
Most Americans do not want to travel to space themselves.
There is a gender gap regarding favorability towards space exploration, but the origin isn’t clear.
There does not appear to be such a significant gap between generations.
Partisan differences only appear on questions of climate change.
Americans tend to be very Earth-centric in their space priorities, but this may be changing.
Most Americans believe in extraterrestrial life, but not necessarily that it’s visited us here on Earth.
There are also serious questions and areas of investigation raised that are worthy of more detailed studies in the future.
Americans appear to favor a Mars mission over a return to the Moon, but the dynamics of support for crewed missions are poorly understood.
What is the root of the persistent gender differential in the data?
What are the characteristics of the ‘High Interest’ and ‘Zero Interest’ groups?
When it comes to space there seem to be three main groups along the 20-60-20 split discussed earlier. Roughly 20% are hardcore space fans, highly supportive of NASA and its missions and deeply engaged in the latest news about space exploration. This group is likely to be more male than female, but other defining traits remain uncharacterized.
There are another 20% that appear staunchly opposed to NASA and its funding, although it’s not clear why they are so opposed. Is it cost or a deeper ideological reason?
The largest group by far is the middle 60% or so who are quite favorable towards NASA, are mildly engaged in space and astronomy, and have likely participated in at least one passive space-related activity, but are not informed enough to offer strong, knowledgeable policy opinions (especially about funding levels). It is almost certain this group is more Earth-centric than the High Interest cohort, and the data would suggest it is likely to be more female than male.
Generational, political, and educational differences on space policy do not appear to be especially pronounced apart from questions of climate change. There are indications younger Americans are more “pro-space” than older generations, but this needs to be studied further before firm conclusions can be drawn.
Crewed missions have always been among the less popular priority for Americans, but there are indications this may be changing in recent years. However the root dynamics explaining this relative unpopularity or why it may be eroding are not yet properly understood.
This is the state of American public opinion on NASA and space exploration in early 2023. Many pressing questions remain that deserve thoughtful and dedicated exploration. The answers to these questions will illuminate changes in public passion for space as the crescendo of the 21st century Space Age continues to rise.
Patrick Chase is a space writer, political junkie, and lifelong space enthusiast.
Astralytical is a woman-owned company whose owner falls in the 20% High Interest grouping. Contact Astralytical for your space policy analysis and insight needs.