US Voters Oppose Science Cuts

Many Americans who are likely to vote in upcoming elections are not in favor of across-the-board cuts to non-discretionary funding.

Written byBob Grant
| 1 min read

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Major cuts to federal science funding loom on the horizon with the automatic sequestration provisioned by last year's Budget Control Act set to take effect in January 2013. And a new poll commissioned by science advocacy groups United for Medical Research (UMR) and Research!America suggests that likely voters are opposed to such drastic cuts to research funding.

"Across the board cuts for medical research will trigger unintended consequences that will impact millions of patients and companies on the verge of developing new treatments to combat disease," Mary Woolley, president and CEO of Research!America, said in a statement. "Our polling shows that likely voters are fully aware of the fiscal challenges facing the nation, but feel strongly that funding for medical research should be a priority for candidates and elected officials."

The poll asked 1,014 likely voters several questions on their feelings about federal funding of research in the United States. ...

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Meet the Author

  • From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

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