Pro-Bike Group: Four out of Five Americans Want $$ For Biking & Walking

You always have to be a little leery when a group supporting a particular outcome puts out a poll showing support of that outcome, but an America Bikes poll being released today shows pretty lopsided results: a plurality (47%) of Americans wants more funding for bike and pedestrian programs, and when you add in those who believe existing funding should be maintained, four out of five Americans in all categories support maintaining or increasing funding.  -- Republican, Democrat, Independent, rural, urban, suburban, young old, etc.

Or parsed:

• 83 percent of all respondents support maintaining or growing the federal funding streams that pay for sidewalks, bikeways, and bike paths.
• 80 percent of Republican respondents and 88 percent of Democrat respondents think Congress should maintain or increase federal funds for biking and walking.
• 85 percent of Northeastern respondents, 79 percent of Midwesterners, 84 percent of Southerners, and 84 percent of respondents from Western states reported support for maintaining or increasing funding for sidewalks and bikeways.
• 91 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 support continuing or increasing biking and walking funds.

The poll is being released as congressional conferees gather to discuss transportation funding, including so-called "enhancements" -- including bike and pedestrian programs.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates
International (PSRAI) of 1003 adults living in the continental U.S. from Marchh 22-25, 2012. S. The margin of sampling error is ± 3.6 percentage points.