Your research is seriously flawed and worst your conclusion are based on what you want to conclude not the evidence.
About 60% of the US public is pretty consistently against manned space flight:
This is from a single Internet Poll a few months back I pointed out. And as Tom Brosz pointed out Internet polls are crap!
"Anti-Mars cynics are currently making much of a recent poll by the Ipsos Reid agency which reports that "only" 38% of the American public support launching a humans to Mars program."
This is not recent and comes for a Mars Society Bulletin from 2001! The public's views change all the time. Bush poll numbers are going up and he hasn't solved any of the problems he has given us...he has just talked us more of that "wonderful" speaking making of his.
etc., etc., etc. Its been that way since Mariner 4: Mars is not Earth-like.
Sure because it fits your conclusions. Mars is more like Earth than it is not like Earth. We can travel to Mars and walk on Mars' surface and possible live there in time. And your statement is meaningless...the Sun is not Earth like!
Assuming we're a democracy, where people can vote for what they want, and are not simply a rubber stamp for the nilitary-industrial complex, then...
Did the public vote for Bush VSE Plan, Ed?
About the only reason ISS got through was because the public was sick and tired of 40 years of the US and USSR thretening each other with nuclear weapons, and prefered to see the two countries working together, even if it was on something about as useful as rock trading among the Samoans.
Your understanding of the Space Station decision if flawed. The public have not voiced and such thing! In 1984 in his state of the union speach Ronald Reagan set us the goal and here is a long quote from that speech:
Nowhere is this more important than our next frontier: space. Nowhere do we so effectively demonstrate our technological leadership and ability to make life better on Earth. The Space Age is barely a quarter of a century old. But already we've pushed civilization forward with our advances in science and technology. Opportunities and jobs will multiply as we cross new thresholds of knowledge and reach deeper into the unknown.
Our progress in space--taking giant steps for all mankind--is a tribute to American teamwork and excellence. Our finest minds in government, industry, and academia have all pulled together. And we can be proud to say: We are first; we are the best; and we are so because we're free.
America has always been greatest when we dared to be great. We can reach for greatness again. We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space for peaceful, economic, and scientific gain. Tonight, I am directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade.
A space station will permit quantum leaps in our research in science, communications, in metals, and in lifesaving medicines which could be manufactured only in space. We want our friends to help us meet these challenges and share in their benefits. NASA will invite other countries to participate so we can strengthen peace, build prosperity, and expand freedom for all who share our goals.
Just as the oceans opened up a new world for clipper ships and Yankee traders, space holds enormous potential for commerce today. The market for space transportation could surpass our capacity to develop it. Companies interested in putting payloads into space must have ready access to private sector launch services. The Department of Transportation will help an expendable launch services industry to get off the ground. We'll soon implement a number of executive initiatives, develop proposals to ease regulatory constraints, and, with NASA's help, promote private sector investment in space.
And as we develop the frontier of space, let us remember our responsibility to preserve our older resources here on Earth. Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it's common sense.
That was the swing vote that kept the whole show going. Go ahead and throw that vote out, and try to re-live the sixties and the glory days of Apollo. But don't be surprised if you find out that the majority of the public is pretty fed up with your nonsense.
Yes, well don't be surprised when they don't care one way or the other.
Go for broke: Mars or bust. But don't be surprised if its a bust, and you find yourself broke
And where did Nemo or Mark say let us go for broke with Mars?
Nemo seem interested in commercial use of space like many others. Mark and I and many others would like to explore Mars and we are currently doing just that....gees doesn't that seem to stike right at your assertions about Mars? And the public seem interested then bored...then a rover gets stuck and their interested again for a few days... This "public" of course doesn't include young children who seem to be interested nonstop!