Charting Congress on Social Media in the 2016 and 2020 Elections
The 2020 election featured dramatic increases in lawmaker posts and audience engagement, but less overlap in the sources shared by members of each party.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The 2020 election featured dramatic increases in lawmaker posts and audience engagement, but less overlap in the sources shared by members of each party.
Less than one-third of Americans were of age to recall personal memories from the day JFK was shot.
A 57%-majority says elected officials just get caught more often because they are under greater scrutiny. About two-in-ten (19%), on the other hand, say elected officials have lower moral standards than ordinary Americans.
While the focus this year has been on the GOP’s race, Democrats express about as much interest in 2012 candidates as do Republicans.
Mitt Romney is clearly the candidate the public says they are hearing the most news about, while mentions of Sarah Palin have plummeted over the past two weeks.
Pluralities say that coverage of poor people and Muslims is too negative, while somewhat smaller percentages say the same about coverage of blacks and Hispanics. About a third say that coverage of wealthy people is too positive — the highest percentage for any group tested.
Most Americans say the news media has devoted too much coverage to Barack Obama’s family and personal life, but the right amount to his leadership style and policy proposals.
The growth in readership online has not offset the decline in print for newspapers.
Public interest in the Middle East conflict is on par with other recent foreign news stories, but is lower than in the Israel-Hezbollah war in August 2006. A slightly greater percentage say the media have not been critical enough of Hamas than say the same about coverage of Israel (30% vs. 25%, respectively).
A compilation of the top 15 stories in which public opinion played a significant role, and the year’s most notable “non-barking dogs.”
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