Some 7 in 10 U.S. voters are against the elimination of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through defunding efforts proposed in the proposed Federal budget submitted to Congress by President Trump.
That’s according to a just-released Quinnipiac University Poll released today (3/24).
The question was one of many posed to 1,056 voters between March 16-21, via live interviews conducted by phone to landlines and cell phones.
Given the question, “Do you think that eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes NPR and PBS, is a good idea or a bad idea?”, the following results were seen:
One in four Americans are for the elimination of CPB, based on the question Quinnipiac posed to respondents.
It should be noted that the CPB does not “include” NPR and PBS. Rather, it provides some 12% of the funding used by NPR and PBS member stations. The loss of this funding has become the hot-button issue facing education and secular noncomms across the U.S.
Nevertheless, a majority of respondents who identify as Republicans (47%) think the elimination of the CPB is a “good idea.” That compares to just 5% of respondents who said they were Democrats, and 1 in 4 respondents who were independents.
In this study, it seems the Democrats win; Quinnipiac did not disclose how many respondents were Democrat, compared to Republican.
Regardless of political party, 2 in 3 men think it is a “bad idea” to eliminate the CPB. Some 3 in 4 women think it is a “bad idea” to kill the CPB.
While it has said that whites without a college degree were among the top supporters of President Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, they appear to break from the president on loss of CPB funding from Washington. Some 6 in 10 Quinnipiac Poll respondents who identified themselves as Anglo and without a college degree think eliminating the CPB is a “bad idea.”
Quinnipiac also breaks down respondents to the CPB question by age, white women vs. white men, and overall whites versus multicultural respondents.
Across the board support for CPB funding was seen across all demographic breakouts.
The wide-ranging poll also finds that a wide majority of respondents support increased funding for health services provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, while 58% of all respondents believe increased military spending is a “good idea.”
At the same time — by wide margins — respondents think it is a “bad idea” to cut funding for medical research, new road and transit projects, scientific research on the environment and climate evolution, after-school and summer school programs, low-income home energy assistance programs, and both the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities.
“It’s a rousing yes for healing the vets and growing the military. But when it comes to cutting Public TV, the arts, after school programs and scientific research to improve the environment, it’s a stern ‘hands off’ from voters,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
“And that wall? Forget it,” Malloy added.
Starting to fund a wall along the Mexican border is a “bad idea,” voters say 64% to 35%.
However, 3 in 4 Republicans support the wall — the only party, gender, education, age or racial group listed to support the idea.
