Poll Reveals Maryland Voters Bullish On Medical Research - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences
Abstract
Voters in Maryland strongly favor higher federal spending for health care and medical research, according to a recent poll commissioned by Research!America. The Alexandria, Va.- based nonprofit advocacy group sponsoring the study promotes the benefits of medical research. Seventy-six percent of those polled would increase federal spending on health care, while perennial favorites such as education and the environment fared slightly less well, with 72 percent and 68 percent, respectively, of respondents supporting increased spending in these areas. On another question, 80 percent of respondents would like to see more government spending for research aimed at "preventing and treating disease," the poll found. Also, while not constituting a majority, 47 percent of those questioned said that they think medical research important enough that they would pay higher taxes to fund it. "It's relatively easy to get support for a concept like medical research," says John Donnelly, vice president for public affairs at Research!America. "But that so many would accept higher taxes is important." National defense and space programs were losers in the poll, receiving calls for higher support from only 5 percent and 13 percent of those questioned, respectively. Welfare and social security did only a bit better,