Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

2008

  • report

    Small Plurality Backs Bailout Plan

    Overview As Congress debated the financial bailout bill over the past week, public support for government action has declined. A new Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 27-29 finds a narrow 45%-38% plurality of the public saying that a government plan to invest or commit billions of dollars to secure financial institutions is the right […]

  • report

    Abortion Laws Around the World

    Abortion is as controversial abroad as it is in the United States. Many governments struggle to strike a balance between the rights of pregnant women and the rights of unborn fetuses. As the following summary of abortion laws and practices in 30 countries shows, this often leads to complex policies governing when and under what […]

  • transcript

    Candidate Preferences of Religious Voters Similar to 2004, But Economy a Higher Priority

    A recently published national survey finds remarkable stability in the candidate preferences of major religious groups when compared with those at a similar stage in the 2004 campaign. The survey was conducted in the summer of 2008 by the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron and headed by John […]

  • short reads

    Nothing in Particular, Religion-Wise

    The majority of the 16.1% of adults who describe themselves as unaffiliated, and 12.1% of the adult population overall, is made up of people who simply describe their religion as “nothing in particular.”