Surveys show Americans believe foreign aid is 25% of the federal budget. It’s less than 1%. The public is misinformed about what the US spends money on, which creates an abstract desire to “cut spending” that’s extremely difficult to translate into policy. https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/what-every-american-should-know-about-us-foreign-aid/
I do have to wonder about that poll, like, if you take the average of responses, then it'd be very difficult to get anywhere near 1% or 99%. Like if the correct number is 1% and you ask 100 people and 95 say 1% but the other 5% say like 90%, then the average would be 5.45%. A small number of people being really misinformed or trolling can have a really big effect if you're looking at extremes like that, and that could explain why the estimates are way higher when the answer is a low number and way lower when the answer is a high number. When the answers are between like 35% and 65%, the estimates are a lot more accurate.
I did all that analysis then scrolled down and saw that they also give the median responses and it's pretty much just as bad lmao. Maybe slightly better.
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
I do have to wonder about that poll, like, if you take the average of responses, then it'd be very difficult to get anywhere near 1% or 99%. Like if the correct number is 1% and you ask 100 people and 95 say 1% but the other 5% say like 90%, then the average would be 5.45%. A small number of people being really misinformed or trolling can have a really big effect if you're looking at extremes like that, and that could explain why the estimates are way higher when the answer is a low number and way lower when the answer is a high number. When the answers are between like 35% and 65%, the estimates are a lot more accurate.I did all that analysis then scrolled down and saw that they also give the median responses and it's pretty much just as bad lmao. Maybe slightly better.