The politics behind the space program is far more complex than simple "Democrat vs. Republican." NASA has always had to walk a complex maze of political interests, making sure as many political districts as possible had something to gain from space spending.

When you really look at space spending--or military spending for that matter--you find that cash into a district usually outweighs whatever political philosophy the representative has. Republicans suddenly become quite happy with large government programs when the money is going in the right direction, and peacenik Democrats become quite defensive about weapons systems being built in their own districts.

You will generally find that a politician's support for a space project is directly proportional to how much of the money is headed for his voters, and political party comes a distant second. There are strong NASA supporters among both Democrats and Republicans.