Findings Based on 2022 Election Omnibus Survey

The Project On Government Oversight commissioned Lake Research Partners to ask a set of polling questions as part of its omnibus survey of 2022 midterm voters. The survey was conducted between November 6–8, 2022, and reached 1,200 voters. Lake Research Partners designed and administered an election omnibus telephone survey which was conducted using professional interviewers. The margin of error for total likely voter sample is +/- 2.8%.

The sample was stratified geographically based on the proportion of midterm voters in each region. The data were weighted to reflect the actual proportions of the electorate. Participants were drawn from rural and urban areas, and reflected a diversity of races, ethnicities, ages, party identifications, ideologies, educational levels, household incomes, and marriage, employment, and parental statuses.

The results show overwhelming agreement among voters across party lines about the need for accountability in both Pentagon spending specifically and federal spending in general. Overall, more three-quarters (76%) of all voters said accountability should be “very important” when setting the Pentagon budget. The vast majority of voters (79%) also think it likely that the Pentagon has contracts with corporations that lack safeguards against waste, fraud, and price-gouging.

Results further show that voters are concerned about the lack of transparency with regard to where federal dollars are being spent at the state and local level. Across partisan lines, voters view this as a significant issue: The polling found that “74% of Democrats, 75% of Republicans, and 67% of Independents say the federal government not knowing where federal tax dollars are going once they get to state and local levels is a big problem.”