The Awareness Gap on Infrastructure

 Our leaders in Washington can’t solve any of our nation’s problems unless they have strong public support—that’s democracy. That is also why the GAIN Coalition is working to raise awareness of the dire state of our country’s infrastructure.

 

A study was released today by international communications firm Brodeur Partners that suggests a need to “create more public urgency” on our country’s infrastructure. The firm surveyed 1,000 Americans, all of whom voted in the 2016 presidential election—and almost none of whom understand the importance of quick action to improve our roads, bridges, waterways, electric grid and more.

 

In fact, the voters in this survey awarded our nation’s infrastructure with A and B grades, while the American Society for Civil Engineers gives it a D+.

 

We have written lately about several new pushes by President Trump to help spur infrastructure revitalization: his speech this week announcing plans to invest in digital infrastructure in rural areas, and his big ‘Infrastructure Week’ just a couple of weeks prior. It is great that this issue is taking the forefront of political dialogue in Washington and beyond, but unfortunately we need more than that.

 

Voters need to feel the same urgency that President Trump has expressed if our national infrastructure is going to see real action. Lack of public awareness on the threats that our crumbling infrastructure poses to our national security and economic competitiveness could be one of the few roadblocks to change—after all, infrastructure revitalization has bipartisan support.

 

This new study confirms that there is still much more to be done to get our elected leaders in states and in Washington to act on our infrastructure problems—and it all starts with their constituents.

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