Poll: Many See Progress In Cancer Fight
A majority of Americans believe that at least some progress has been made over the last 30 years in finding a cure for cancer, a new CBS News/New York Times survey finds.
Roughly one in three, however, feel that the federal government spends too little on cancer research compared with other medical research. Less than one in ten say the government spends too much.
Six in 10 Americans say there has been at least some progress in finding a cure for the disease, including 30 percent who say "a lot" of progress has been made. Twenty-one percent say little to no progress has been made.
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Meanwhile, thirty-four percent say the government is spending too little on cancer research compared to other medical research. Another thirty-four percent say the government is spending the right amount. Just seven percent say the government spends too much. The remaining twenty-five percent say they don't know.
Older Americans are more likely than younger people to say that progress has been made on discovering a cure for cancer, as are people with relatively high levels of education.
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 998 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone April 1-5, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
