Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

2008

  • transcript

    Analyzing the Fall Campaign: Religion and the Presidential Election

    With less than two months before the presidential election in November, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life invited two senior researchers and a group of leading journalists to discuss recent findings on the role religion is playing in the presidential race. Scott Keeter, director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, said […]

  • report

    The Palin Phenomenon Drives Campaign Coverage

    Last week, John McCain formally accepted his party’s nomination for the U.S. presidency. But he was overshadowed by the attention paid to Sarah Palin, some of which pitted the GOP vs. the media.

  • report

    Survey Finds Alaskans Less Religious Than Other Americans

    GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a self-described “Bible-believing Christian,” but statistics from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey show that compared with the nation as a whole, Alaska is home to a higher-than-average number of people who are unaffiliated with any particular religion. More than one-in-four Alaskans […]

  • report

    After Busy Week, Views of Both Candidates Improve

    Summary of Findings Interest in the presidential election surged last week, with the public following campaign news more closely than at any point since the Super Tuesday primaries in February. As attention to the campaign has increased, the images of both Barack Obama and John McCain have improved in recent days. In a survey conducted […]

  • report

    Denver and Palin Fuel Biggest Campaign Week Yet

    For much of last week, the Democrats’ effort to make peace and reintroduce Obama to voters were the focal points of campaign coverage. How much success did John McCain have in suddenly stealing the media narrative?

  • fact sheet

    On Ceremonial Occasions, May the Government Invoke a Deity?

    School children utter the phrase “one nation under God” as part of the Pledge of Allegiance. The national motto, “In God We Trust,” appears on U.S. currency. Congress and many state legislatures start their sessions with prayers, and the U.S. Supreme Court opens oral arguments with the invocation “God save the United States and this […]