Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

2012

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    Hard Economic Times for Young Adults

    Just under half (49%) of adults ages 18 to 34 say that because of economic conditions over the past few years, they have taken a job they didn’t want in order to pay the bills.

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    Exposure to Combat Rises for Women in the Military

    Since the 1990s, changes in military policies — and a decade of involvement in wars — have contributed to an increase in combat exposure for women in the military. Among female veterans who had served and left the military before 1990, just 7% were exposed to combat. This figure rises to 24% among post-1990 female veterans.

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    Young, Underemployed and Optimistic

    Young adults hit hard by the recession. A plurality of the public believes young adults, rather than middle-aged or older adults, are having the toughest time in today’s economy.

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    Social Media Share a History Lesson

    Last week, bloggers circulated a letter written more than a century ago from a former slave. Some in social media were able to use publicly available information on the web to investigate the veracity of the letter. On YouTube, three different videos featuring Russians became a news phenomenon.

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    The tone of life on social networking sites

    85% of the adults who use social media report that people are usually kind on the sites. At the same time, 49% have witnessed mean and offensive behavior and they usually respond by ignoring it.

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    Growing Public Support for Same-Sex Marriage

    UPDATED FEBRUARY 16, 2012, WITH MORE COMPLETE DATA. As courts and legislatures address the question of whether same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry, public support for gay marriage continues to grow. Polls in 2011 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that an average of 46% favor allowing […]

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    Election News Tops Public Interest and Coverage

    Overview With a critical Republican primary in Florida, the 2012 presidential campaign was the public’s top story last week, closely followed by news about the economy. About a quarter (23%) say they followed news about the candidates for president most closely. Another 18% say the economy was their top story. Nearly as many (15%) say […]

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    About the News Interest Index

    The News Interest Index is a weekly survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press aimed at gauging the public’s interest in and reaction to major news events. This project has been undertaken in conjunction with the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, an ongoing content analysis of […]

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    Cable Leads the Pack as Campaign News Source

    Overview With a contested primary in only one party this year, fewer Americans are closely following news about the presidential campaign than four years ago. As a consequence, long-term declines in the number of people getting campaign news from such sources as local TV and network news have steepened, and even the number gathering campaign […]