Poll Shows Steady Support for Space Program
Associated Press — The Associated Press poll on space exploration is based on telephone interviews with 1,034 randomly selected adults from all states except Alaska and Hawaii.
The interviews were conducted July 11-15 by ICR/International Communications Research of Media, Pa.
The results were weighted to represent the population by demographic factors such as age, sex, region and education.
In the poll, no more than one time in 20 should chance variations in the sample cause the results to vary by more than 3 percentage points from the answers that would be obtained if all Americans were polled.
This margin of error is larger for responses of subgroups, such as income categories. There are other sources of potential error in polls, including the wording and order of questions.
1. Do you think the space program is a good investment for this country or don’t you think so?
– Good investment, 71 percent
– Not a good investment, 21 percent
– Don’t know-refused, 8 percent
2. In light of the space shuttle accident in February, in which seven astronauts were killed, do you think the United States should or should not continue to send humans into space?
– Should, 73 percent
– Should not, 24 percent
– Don’t know-refused, 3 percent
3. Do you think the United States should, or should not, pursue a program to send humans to Mars?
– Should, 49 percent
– Should not, 42 percent
– Don’t know-refused, 9 percent
4. Do you feel that civilian astronauts, such as journalists, politicians and school teachers, should or should not participate in any future space shuttle flights?
– Should participate, 56 percent
– Should not participate, 38 percent
– Don’t know-refused, 6 percent
5. As you may know, the space shuttle program is more than 20 years old and experienced two accidents that killed the crew members of both shuttles. Do you think the space shuttle should be grounded, or do you think the space shuttle should continue to fly?
– Should be grounded, 28 percent
– Should continue to fly, 68 percent
– Don’t know-refused, 4 percent
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