U.S. PoliticsMar. 12, 2013

Public’s Views of Economic News Remain Mixed

As federal spending cuts take effect and the stock market has reached record highs, the public continues to say they are hearing a mix of good and bad news about the economy.

HispanicMar. 7, 2013

Latinos Closing the Digital Divide

Latinos own smartphones, go online from a mobile device and use social networking sites at similar — and sometimes higher — rates than do other groups of Americans.

U.S. PoliticsMar. 7, 2013

After Fight Over CIA Director Ends, A Look at Public Opinion on Drones

The Senate on Thursday confirmed John Brennan to be the new director of the CIA after several senators took part in a filibuster focusing on the administration’s drone strategy. A majority of Americans support drone strikes against suspected terrorist targets abroad, but some (31%) express concerns are about the legality of the program.

ReligionMar. 6, 2013

Views of the Catholic Church’s Problems and Contributions

U.S. Catholics see sex abuse as the church’s most important problem and charity as its most important contribution.

ReligionMar. 5, 2013

Religious Observance Among European Catholics Holds Steady

Pope Benedict XVI was dedicated to combating secularization, but there was no marked resurgence of faith in Europe.

Pew Research CenterMar. 4, 2013

Twitter Reaction to Events Often at Odds with Overall Public Opinion

By Amy Mitchell and Paul Hitlin The reaction on Twitter to major political events and policy decisions often differs a great deal from public opinion as measured by surveys. This is the conclusion of a year-long Pew Research Center study that compared the results of national polls to the tone of tweets in response to [...]

GlobalMar. 4, 2013

Will Budget Cuts Shrink the U.S. Global Role?

The forced budget cuts, known in Washington as sequestration, are now in force in the United States and $85 billion in spending cuts are in the process of being implemented, with about half of them coming out of Washington’s spending on international engagement.

ReligionMar. 1, 2013

Obama Administration Weighs in on Gay Marriage Case

News outlets reported last night that the Obama administration has submitted a “friend-of-the-court” brief on the legal challenge to California’s gay marriage ban (Proposition 8), which will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26.

Pew Research CenterMar. 1, 2013

Who Took the News IQ Quiz and How Did They Do?

By Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research On Feb. 5 the Pew Research Center released a report on its latest NewsIQ Quiz, “What the Public Knows – In Pictures, Maps, Graphs and Symbols,” based on interviews with 1,041 randomly sampled adults nationwide. Since Feb. 5, more than 350,000 people have taken the quiz on the PewResearch.org website. A large majority of [...]

Pew Research CenterFeb. 28, 2013

Index to Pew Research Center Key Data Points Sheets

This is an index to key data point sheets summarizing the most important findings from our surveys and analyses on topics we have tracked.