Does public opinion polling about issues still work?
National polls like the Center’s come within a few percentage points, on average, of benchmarks from high response rate federal surveys.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
National polls like the Center’s come within a few percentage points, on average, of benchmarks from high response rate federal surveys.
Americans see capitalism as giving people more opportunity and more freedom than socialism, while they see socialism as more likely to meet people’s basic needs, though these perceptions differ significantly by party. Many Democrats say socialism meets people’s basic needs; Republicans say it restricts individual freedoms.
72% of Americans say taking in civilian refugees should be an important goal for immigration policy in the United States.
On a couple of policies related to transgender people, there is some agreement among Americans, but views of other policies are more divided.
Despite the growth of commercial sports betting, the most common way that Americans bet on sports is with friends or family.
Since the 1990s, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join the growing ranks of U.S. adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” If recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades.
There are sizable ideological differences over the most pressing priorities for the U.S. immigration system within each partisan coalition.
PayPal is used by a majority of U.S. adults (57%). Smaller shares report ever using Venmo (38%), Zelle (36%) or Cash App (26%).
In 2019, 81% of household heads with a bachelor’s degree or more education had a spouse or partner who was also a college graduate.
Here’s what Americans said they learned about the development of vaccines and medical treatments and their advice for handling a future outbreak.