5 years ago 06/19/2019 - 06/30/2019

Sample Size 1018

Method Phone

Margin of Error +/- 4%

Quick Facts
> 53% of Americans support a crewed mission to Mars
> 55% of both Democrats and Republicans support the mission
> 65% of Americans 18-29 support a crewed mission to Mars
Key Takeaways
> For the 1st time in Gallup polling, a majority of Americans support a crewed mission to Mars.
> Support has risen in all subgroups, especially Democrats and younger Americans.
Detailed Breakdown
The Gallup data offered on support for manned missions to Mars is in stark contrast to the data we analyzed previously. AP-NORC had found 37% would prioritize a Mars mission over a Moon mission, and 58% told Pew humans were ‘essential’ for space exploration, but those data points were the high water marks for support for crewed missions to Mars. Pew found only 18% put a ‘high’ priority on sending crews to Mars (45% said medium), and AP-NORC found only 27% said it was important for NASA to send a crew to Mars. Gallup’s data paints the picture of a far more supportive public, but with hints of what Pew and AP-NORC were picking up.

Gallup found 53% favored an attempt to send a crew to Mars, and 46% opposed. This level is almost twice the level of support measured by AP-NORC, and is only exceeded by the Pew levels of support if ‘medium’ priority responders are paired with ‘high’ priority responders (63%). This was a notable increase from the previous Gallup poll, which found 43%/54% in favor/opposed in 1999.

This support was found to be broad-based and non-partisan, with significant gaps on age. 55% of both Democrats and Republicans support an attempt, as do 52% of Independents. Our previous analysis had shown partisanship appearing in some, but not all, aspects of space exploration, and it appears that Mars exploration is not one of them.

There was a significant difference based on age, with 65% of those 18-29 supporting a Mars attempt, but only 46% of those 65+ saying the same. This 19% gap is in line with our previous analysis, which found younger Americans generally more open to crewed exploration of the solar system, as well as being more supportive of budget increases for NASA.

What is most notable, perhaps, is the breadth of this increase Gallup captured. Every subgroup saw a rise from 1999, with some groups seeing significant spikes in support. Support from those 65+ rose 25% to 46%, support among Democrats rose 17% to 55%, erasing what had been a 7% partisan gap, and rose 13% to 48% among those 50-64.

Overall this Gallup data offers a different picture than our previous snapshot captured, of a public more supportive of a mission to Mars than other data has shown. This support was broad, non-partisan, and has increased significantly over time with broad swathes of the public. Examining this trend, and seeing if further data confirms what Gallup found, are critically important avenues of research moving forward.