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I did a poll of ~200 (University of Pennsylvania) undergraduates about 15 years ago, asking them (among many other questions) what percent of the federal budget NASA gets. The median answer was 15%, which is 30x more than the correct answer of one half of one percent.

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That’s quite ridiculous an answer to be honest, but is a good example of how terrible people are at understanding federal funding, and unfortunately undergraduates are no exception.

How much did they estimate the defense budget at, 150%?

Median was 40%.

Also, for comparison, the US military budget in 2021 was $700-800 billion.

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