Just hours before tanks roll down the streets of Washington, D.C., in a show of force for President Trump’s 79th birthday, a damning new poll has delivered a harsh verdict from the American public: they don’t want to pay for it.
According to a nationwide survey from the NBC Decision Desk Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey, 64 percent of Americans oppose using state funds for the parade—an elaborate, high-priced celebration coinciding with the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary. The spectacle is expected to cost taxpayers between $25 million and $45 million, and includes 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft, and 6,600 soldiers, as well as potential damage to public spaces from heavy military equipment.
“Do you support or oppose the use of government funds for the parade?” the poll asked. Only 14 percent strongly support funding it. 44 percent strongly oppose. The rest are split: 22 percent somewhat support, and 20 percent somewhat oppose.
Even among Republicans, support is far from unanimous. While 68 percent are in favor, that number masks a deeper split: 75 percent of MAGA-aligned Republicans support it, but approval drops to 56 percent among more moderate Republicans. Independents reject the spending at 72 percent, while Democrats are nearly unanimous at 88 percent opposed.
The scale of opposition hasn’t gone unnoticed by other public officials. “We all like to enjoy a nice birthday party. But most of us don’t celebrate with a $45 million taxpayer-funded military parade,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) posted on X.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, took sharper aim at the parade’s priorities. “If it was really about celebrating military families, we could put $30 million toward helping them offset the cost of their child care, food assistance and tuition,” she wrote on June 5.
A separate poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research backs the findings. It reports that 60 percent of Americans say the parade is “not a good use of government funds.”
The parade also lands against a tense political backdrop. Critics point to the contradiction of Trump planning a lavish military display while having recently deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests over immigration raids—raising concerns about the politicization of military power.
