Americans Believe the U.S. Should Be a Global Leader in Research
While the United States has been the uncontested leader in research & development (R&D) spending for decades, global trends in R&D investment pose a growing threat to U.S. leadership. The share of U.S. GDP devoted public R&D investment continues to shrink, threatening our ability to firmly stand on the cutting edge of scientific innovation. Nearly 90% of Americans say it is important for the U.S. to be a global leader in health and scientific research. Eight in 10 believe it is important for the U.S. to set and achieve a goal of spending 3%-5% of the GDP on research and development, as countries like Japan and Korea have done.
Currently, the U.S. spends 0.7% of its GDP on research and development. Americans hold high confidence in U.S. science and technology capabilities: a majority believe that the U.S. will be the number one world leader in science and technology by the year 2030.
Check out our Public Opinion Polls page to see the full results from the survey.