Trump is giving a major policy speech tonight — here's what Americans think about 13 major areas of federal spending
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President Donald Trump is set to give a speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening and government spending is likely to be a big part of the discussion.We took a look at the opinions Americans hold about various major government spending areas to get a sense of what the public could be looking for from coming budget negotiations.
The "General Social Survey," a project of the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago, has been tracking several aspects of American life since 1972. Business Insider looked at the results of several survey questions about Americans' views on federal-spending priorities between the 1970s and 2014, the most recent year for which data is available.
Here is what Americans think about 13 major spending areas.
Highway and road spending has been popular among Americans for decades.
Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from General Social SurveyAmericans are broadly favorable toward other forms of transportation infrastructure. Just 9% of respondents in 2014 thought we were spending too much on mass transit.
Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from General Social SurveyAmericans like spending on Social Security. In 2014, a majority of respondents said the federal government is spending too little on the retirement program.
Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from General Social SurveySee the rest of the story at Business Insider