A majority of Americans believe that investing in infrastructure will improve the U.S. economy, according to a recent poll conducted by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
While infrastructure needs differ throughout the United States, the survey shows that adults strongly support modernizing U.S. infrastructure and believe that investments will create jobs and improve their quality of life, AEM adds.
AEM noted a number of key findings from the poll, including 89 percent of all adults believe infrastructure investments will strengthen the U.S. economy, including 86 percent of urban Americans and 89 percent of rural Americans. In addition, the poll discovered that 82 percent of adults agree that infrastructure investments will increase the number of jobs in their communities and 81 percent of Americans agree that infrastructure investments will improve their quality of life.
Respondents also identified transportation, construction and manufacturing as the top industries poised to benefit most from increased infrastructure investment. According to AEM, 30 percent of all Americans pointed to manufacturing as one of the three primary beneficiaries of increased spending on infrastructure.
“The findings underscore the fact that infrastructure connects rural and urban America – both literally and physically,” says AEM president Dennis Slater. “America’s infrastructure was once the envy of the world, but after years of underinvestment, our infrastructure and connectivity between rural and urban America have deteriorated considerably. This is one of the areas rural and urban Americans agree on today – that we must modernize and rebuild our infrastructure to reclaim the infrastructure advantage we once had.”
AEM conducted the poll in partnership with YouGov through its online omnibus survey. The survey was sent to 3,481 U.S. adults, including 667 adults who self-identify as living in a rural area.
