The Associated Press/Ipsos Poll: Lukewarm Support for Space Option

Washington, DC - Americans have mixed feelings about the proposal to expand the space program by building a permanent space station on the Moon with plans to eventually send astronauts to Mars. Overall, 48% favor and 48% oppose such a proposal. The Associated Press Poll is conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Between January 9-11, 2004, the AP/Ipsos poll interviewed a representative sample of 1,000 adults nationwide, including 774 registered voters. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 for all adults, +/- 3.6 for registered voters. Generally speaking, young men, especially those with at least some college experience, favor the expansion of the US space program. Politics and Space When forced to choose between government spending priorities, the new space proposal becomes more of a political hot potato, with support dropping to only 42% and opposition rising to 55%. The opinions of older men and women are little changed when the focus is on the trade-off between space research and spending on domestic programs, but support among younger men and women under the age of 45 disappears when that trade-off is explicitly presented. Support For Space Exploration, But Not Necessarily Manned Space Exploration In general, almost three-in-four Americans support sending humans into space and think it is important that the U.S. is the leading country in the world in space exploration. Given the specific choice on moon and Mars exploration between manned missions and more affordable missions using robots, however, a majority (57%) favors robot missions. For more information, please contact: Thomas Riehle President, Ipsos Public Affairs Washington, D.C. 202.463.7300 About Ipsos Public Affairs Ipsos Public Affairs is a non-partisan, objective, public affairs company made up of campaign and political polling veterans as well as seasoned research professionals. The company conducts strategic research initiatives for a diverse number of Canadian, American, and international organizations based not only on public opinion research, but often elite stakeholder, corporate and media opinion research. Ipsos Public Affairs also conducts national and international public opinion polling on behalf of the The Associated Press, the world's oldest and largest news organization. Ipsos Public Affairs is a member of the Ipsos Group, a leading global survey-based research firm. Visit us at: www.ipsos-pa.com About Ipsos Ipsos is a leading global survey-based market research group, with revenues of 538.5 million euros in 2002. It offers a full suite of research services, guided by industry experts and bolstered by advanced analytics and methodologies in advertising, marketing, public opinion and customer loyalty research, as well as forecasting and modeling. Member companies also offer a full line of custom, syndicated, omnibus, panel, and online research products and services. To learn more, visit: www.ipsos.com Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris Premier Marchй, and is part of the SBF 120 and Next Prime Indices as well as eligible to the Deferred Settlement System (SRD). Euroclear code 7329, Reuters ISOS.LN, Bloomberg IPS FP