Public Supports Arizona Immigration Law
A majority approves of the new law, and larger percentages support requiring people to produce identification documents for police and allowing authorities to detain people unable to verify their legal status.
Hispanics and Arizona’s New Immigration Law
Past Pew Research Center reports have found that Latinos are the ethnic group most likely to be illegal immigrants and that Americans see Hispanics as the racial/ethnic group most often subjected to discrimination. Find more demographic and public opinion research related to the new Arizona law in a just-released fact sheet.
Gun Control Splits America
The public is divided over whether state and local governments should be able to pass laws banning the sale and possession of handguns as well as whether it is more important to protect gun owners’ rights or control gun ownership.
How the Economy May Sway 2010 Governors’ Races
The tax hikes that so many states levied to plug holes in their recession-ravaged budgets this year could endanger some incumbent governors’ careers in 2010 when 37 gubernatorial contests are at stake.
Recession Pounds States’ Budgets
Stateline.org’s legislative review finds state budgets in such dire straits that they are closing prisons in Colorado and Kansas, raising taxes on the rich in New York and even taxing bourbon in Kentucky — and the worst is yet to come.
With Crisis As Catalyst, State Governors Push Big Changes
Governors are using the economic crisis to sell big changes in how state and local jurisdictions operate, promising overhauls that could alter the face of government around the country.
States Made History on November 4, Too
Barack Obama wasn’t the only one to make history on Election Day 2008. Statehouses also broke ground on several fronts.
A Roundup of State Ballot Measures
Gay marriage bans were among the most closely watched of the 153 measures on 36 states’ ballots this year, a list that included scores of politically explosive social and fiscal issues including abortion, doctor-assisted suicide and various efforts to roll back state taxes.
Depressed Economy Wallops States
With calendar 2008 nearing an end, Stateline.org’s annual state-by-state review of major accomplishments finds lawmakers girding for big spending cuts in 2009 and beyond.
Escalating Financial Crisis Grips States
A week after President Bush signed a $700-billion bailout plan for Wall Street, the financial crisis has deepened in many state capitals with tight credit markets and new, pessimistic budget figures that pose the biggest threat to states’ fiscal health in 25 years.
