Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Librari'
PUBLIC OPINION POLLS
General
Comments
The polling by the various organizations and methods has not been as systematic, extensive, and frequent as could be de: sired f.ot accurate readings and it is impo.r:tant to be a\./are of thci.r lirnitaLions and to use care rn interirreting thcir
results
',
As r.right be expected in such com-olex issues, the wording of questions in polls have a great cjeal to do tvith the trend of the ansvlers" For exanrple, a person asked if he wants to maintain U.S. leadership in space would probably be more incl-ined to give an ansl^rer favoring an active space program than if he were asked whether he vtould like to see some cuts in space spending. Results of some poils have been vreighted abnormally for and against the space program in this manner Recent successes or failures in U.S. or Soviet space activities may sharply affect results in a given poII as noted here.
Several more specific points can be
made:
ordinary cit-i-zens are asked for approval or disapproval of such a nevr, seemingly, esoterj-c, and expensive government program as the space program" whose benefits may be largely intangible and for the nation as a rvhole rather than percent f[for the individual, approval by as few as 30 or 35 public | | should be considered significatrt and encouraging 1.
When
[ | support.
2. An oprnion that a program is "not rvorth the money" is not necessarily a conviction by that individual that it should be terminated or even cut back. Iuiany peopl.e probably wish the space program did not cost so much, but want it to continue nevertheless.
3. A frequent guestion in the polls in recent years has been whether governmeni spending on the sPace program should be kept at present levels, j-ncreased, or decreased. In
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