It’s a related mix. Turning major space programs into pork barrels has hurt efficiency, exploration, inspiration, etc, in favor of cronyism. Public ignorance is also a huge part of it. There’s a staggering education epidemic and amount of people who don’t believe in the moon landings or rovers on Mars and who don’t know or care about the importance of space-based nav, comms, weather, etc, or microgravity research.