>Public approval of funding for the Apollo program peaked at 53 percent (around the first moon landing) but pretty much hovered between 35-45 percent for most of the 1960s

I had no idea. The article is right in saying that if you were a kid at that time (and I was just old enough to be aware of the moon landing as it was happening, although I was surprised at the time that it hadn't happened before), of course you approved. But if you were an adult, you didn't necessarily see the value.