Americans think Trump's big military parade is not a good use of government funds, poll shows
A majority of Americans believe President Donald Trump's multimillion-dollar parade celebrating the Army in Washington on Saturday is not a good use of government funds, a new AP-NORC poll shows.
Sixty percent of Americans surveyed in the June poll said they believe the parade is not a good use of funds, while 38 percent said they believe the parade is worth the cost.
Forty percent of Americans approve of Trump's decision to hold the parade, compared with 31 percent who neither approve or disapprove and 29 percent who are against the decision to hold a parade.
The parade this weekend, which also coincides with Trump's 79th birthday, is expected to feature 6,600 soldiers marching along with 25 M1 Abrams main battle tanks and dozens of other military vehicles. Several generations of military aircraft are planned to fly overhead, including a World War II-era B-25 bomber, Huey helicopters similar to those used in the Vietnam War, and a P-1 biplane fighter aircraft like the ones first used in the 1920s.
Trump is also expected to give a speech.
The cost of the parade is estimated to cost between $25 million and $45 million, according to Army officials.
Some Republicans have raised concerns over the cost. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told POLITICO last week he 'would have recommended against the parade' after learning of its estimated cost.
In an NBC News interview in May, Trump said the amount spent on holding the parade would be 'peanuts compared to the value of doing it.'
Most Republican lawmakers are planning to skip the parade, including Speaker Mike Johnson and several members who have previously served in the military. Only seven out of 50 congressional Republicans surveyed by POLITICO as of Tuesday said they were planning to attend.
The poll also finds 60 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's job performance, while 39 percent approve, marking Trump's highest disapproval rating in an AP-NORC poll since he returned to office in January.
The AP-NORC poll was conducted June 5-9 and is based on interviews with 1,158 adults around the country. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points.
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