A poll by Gallup has put NASA and the Centers for Disease Control as the federal agencies deemed to be doing their jobs best by the US public. For the space agency, 58% of the public thought it was doing a good or excellent job, with appreciation of the CDC running at 61%.
It’s not all good for science bodies though. The Food and Drug Administration put in a rather poor show, with only 38% rating it good or excellent.
The new poll, conducted just prior to the 40th anniversary of the July 20, 1969, moon landing by Apollo 11 — perhaps the most celebrated of all NASA achievements — finds NASA’s rating about where it has been in recent years. While not nearly as high as it was in late 1998 (a month after John Glenn’s successful return to space), NASA’s current excellent/good score falls within the upper half of ratings it has received over the past two decades.
Graph data: Gallup