New Survey Released
Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 7:57AM | BFAD Today Stimson’s project on budgeting for foreign affairs and defense, together with the Program for Public Consultation and the Center for Public Integrity, is releasing a new and innovative survey of Americans’ attitudes on defense spending. Rather than posing the simple question of whether defense spending should change, this poll subdivided the budget into its air, ground, and naval components; explained each part; and exposed respondents to the relevant debate before asking them what they wished to spend in a given area.
Three-quarters of those polled cut spending below the 2012 appropriation. Together their changes correspond to a budget similar to, but stricter than, the Pentagon’s vision in its new strategy. National defense spending clearly is still on the negotiating table whenever Congress and the administration return to it, which likely will be in November, as we’ve said on many occasions.
For more information on the survey, join us for the release event this morning at 10:00, sign up for our live chat this afternoon at 2:00, or just stay tuned to The Will and the Wallet. We’ll update this post with a hyperlink to the report once its release is official and will be blogging on its results for the days to come.