Americans on Foreign Aid: National Survey Finds Common Ground on Foreign Aid Spending
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Abstract
An overwhelming majority of 89% of Americans say the US should spend at least one percent of the federal budget on foreign aid – the current amount the US spends on aid. This includes 84% of Republicans and 94% of Democrats.
Fifty-eight percent oppose abolishing the US Agency for International Development and folding its functions into the State Department, including 77% of Democrats and 62% of independents. But 60% of Republicans favor the move.
These are some of the findings of a new survey by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland, fielded February 6-7, 2025 with a representative sample of 1,160 adults nationwide.
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Voice Of the People (VOP) is a nonpartisan organization working to re-anchor our democracy in its founding principles by giving ‘We the People’ a greater and more effective voice in government. VOP champions innovative methods and technology – notably online public consultations – that enable the American people to play a role in the policymaking process and provide policymakers with a more accurate understanding of the views of their constituents.
The Program for Public Consultation conducts policymaking simulations, which are an online process that puts citizens in the shoes of elected officials by simulating the process they go through in making policy decisions. Each simulation introduces a broader policy topic and then presents a series of modules that address a specific policy option that is currently under consideration in the current discourse.
For each module, respondents: 1) receive a short briefing on a policy issue and the option or options for addressing it; 2) evaluate arguments for and against the policy options; and 3) finally, make their recommendation for what their elected officials should do.