Partisan Rationales for Space: Motivations for Public Support of Space Exploration Funding, 1973–2016

Abstract

This study tests the congruence between public opinion toward funding US space exploration and previously theorized rationales to justify space activities and examines how those motivations differ by political party and how they vary from 1973 to 2016. General Social Survey data are used to measure correlations between space spending preferences and other spending categories that proxy proposed rationales, with mixed effects and ordinal logit regressions. Consistent with the scientific discovery rationale, support for funding space correlates with positive attitudes toward science. During the Cold War, a national security frame prevailed: Space and military preferences were correlated, with “hawks” supporting defense and space spending and “doves” opposing both. After the Cold War, Republicans continue to show strong space-military correlation, but for Democrats, space funding support now correlates with environmental protection preferences and not their military spending views. Both parties show slight negative correlations between space and social welfare spending. Overall partisan differences in funding preferences have not greatly increased, but diverging motivations have implications for future space politics.