A narrow majority of U.S. adults (54%) say they would oppose the federal government providing a guaranteed income – sometimes called a universal basic income (UBI) – of about $1,000 per month for all adult citizens, whether or not they work; 45% favor the proposal.
The idea of the government providing a universal basic income for all adult citizens draws broad and intense opposition among Republicans, but is generally supported by Democrats, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
Nearly eight-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (78%) oppose the federal government providing a universal basic income of about $1,000 per person, with 62% strongly opposed. A smaller share of Democrats and Democratic leaners (66%) favor a UBI, with just a third supporting the proposal strongly.
UBI was the centerpiece of former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s campaign. Yang is scheduled to speak to the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, shortly before Joe Biden accepts the party’s presidential nomination.
The 2020 presidential election is more than two months away, but many social media users in the United States already are exhausted by how much political content they see on these platforms.
Some 55% of adult social media users say they feel “worn out” by how many political posts and discussions they see on social media, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted July 13-19. This share has risen 18 percentage points since the Center first asked this question in the summer leading up to the 2016 presidential contest and 9 points just in the past year.
At the same time, users are less ambivalent about seeing these types of posts today than in the past. Today, 29% of social media users say they don’t feel strongly one way or another about encountering political discussions, down from about four-in-ten in 2016 and 2019. Across these surveys, including the latest, relatively small shares – ranging from 15% to 20% – have said they like seeing lots of political posts on social media.
As the 2020 presidential campaign ramps up, a growing share of Americans say it is likely that Russia or other foreign governments will attempt to influence the November election. At the same time, confidence in the federal government to prevent election interference by foreign governments has declined.
Three-quarters of U.S. adults say it is very or somewhat likely that Russia or other foreign governments will attempt to influence the presidential election, including 44% who say it is very likely, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted July 27-Aug. 2.
These views have changed little since January. But Americans are now more likely to expect foreign election interference than they were in October 2018 – shortly before that fall’s midterms – when 67% expected it. And the share who say such efforts are very likely is 12 percentage points higher now than two years ago.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on June 25. (Alexander Drago/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Some 6.2 million U.S. adults – or 2.4% of the country’s adult population – report being two or more races, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of 2018 U.S. Census Bureau data. Of these Americans, 22% are White and American Indian, 21% are Black and White, 20% are White and Asian American, 4% are Black and American Indian and 2% are Black and Asian American. About three-in-ten (31%) are some other combination, including 9% who select three or more races. The 2000 census was the first time Americans were able to choose more than one race to describe themselves, allowing for an estimate of the nation’s multiracial population.
In a 2015 study that used a broader definition of the term – one that took into account how adults described their own race as well as the racial background of their parents and grandparents – Pew Research Center estimated that 6.9% of the U.S. adult population could be considered multiracial. The 2015 study also explored the attitudes and experiences of these adults, revealing the complexities of multiracial identity. Here are five key findings from that report:
A century after the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, about half of U.S. adults (49%) – including 52% of men and 46% of women – say granting women the right to vote has been the most important milestone in advancing the position of women in the country, relative to other notable events and achievements, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
And women have largely exercised this right: In every U.S. presidential election dating back to 1984, women reported having turned out to vote at slightly higher rates than men, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Center. At the same time, the gender gap in party affiliation continues to widen.
In 2016, 63% of women who were eligible to vote said they cast ballots in the presidential election, compared with 59% of men. That 4 percentage point gender gap is similar to the 4-point gaps in 2012 and 2008 as well as the 3-point gaps in 2004, 2000 and 1996. In 1980, when voter turnout data first became available, there was no gender gap in turnout: 64% of both men and women reported turning out to vote in that year’s election. These patterns are also similar for midterm elections.
Long-tailed ducks fly along a barrier island outside Kaktovik, Alaska, on the edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Sylvain Cordier/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
The Trump administration has finalized plans to open the 19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling for the first time. The decision caps decades of efforts by oil and gas companies and some Alaska leaders to allow drilling in the wilderness area, even as environmental activists warn that allowing it could threaten polar bears and other wildlife. Drilling opponents are expected to challenge the administration’s plans in court.
As the debate resurfaces over drilling in the wildlife refuge – the largest in the country – here are some facts about Americans’ views of expanded oil and gas drilling, as well as how the public sees government efforts to protect wildlife and open lands. The analysis also includes data on how oil and gas production in the United States has changed in recent years. All findings are drawn from previously published Pew Research Center surveys and studies.
A Lutheran pastor speaks with parishioners before the start of online worship services conducted from the basement of her home. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
One-third of U.S. adults have watched religious services online or on television in the past month, and a little over half of them – or 18% of all adults – say they began doing this for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic. Of course, if you’re worshipping remotely, you can’t hug the other members of your congregation or shake hands with your minister, priest, rabbi or imam. But you can wear whatever clothes you want, turn up (or down) the volume, forget about traffic in the parking lot, and easily check out that service you’ve heard about in a congregation across town or even across the country.
Whatever the reasons, lots of people like virtual worship. Nine out of 10 Americans who have watched services online or on TV in the past month say they are either “very” satisfied (54%) or “somewhat” satisfied (37%) with the experience; just 8% say they are “not too” or “not at all” satisfied, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey conducted in mid-July.
So what does this bode for the future? By the time the COVID-19 pandemic has finally run its course, will Americans have lost the habit of going in person to a church, synagogue, temple or mosque? Some commentators have suggested that just as the pandemic has accelerated the trend toward shopping online and made Americans reliant on the internet for work, school, health and entertainment, so might many, if not all, varieties of religious experience move online in the 21st century.
But that’s not what the people who’ve been worshipping online see in their future. On the contrary, most U.S. adults overall say that when the pandemic is over, they expect to go back to attending religious services in person as often as they did before the coronavirus outbreak.
Overall, six-in-ten Americans say the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. is rising primarily because there are more new infections in the country, not just because more people are being tested compared with previous months. Around four-in-ten (39%) say the increase is primarily the result of more people being tested, according to the survey, which was conducted July 27-Aug. 2 among 11,001 U.S. adults.
Most Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (62%) say the primary reason for the rise in confirmed cases is that more people are being tested. Self-described conservative Republicans are especially likely to hold this view: Around two-thirds (68%) say this, compared with 53% of moderate and liberal Republicans.
Among the collateral damage from the coronavirus pandemic has been the U.S. economy and the federal budget. The pandemic has caused massive economic disruption, and the government’s response has pushed the federal budget further out of balance than it’s been in nearly eight decades. But Americans appear to be slightly less concerned about the deficit than they have been in recent years.
In a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 16-22, just under half of U.S. adults (47%) called the deficit “a very big problem” in the country today – down from 55% in the fall of 2018. Over roughly that same period, the deficit grew from $779.1 billion at the end of fiscal 2018 to $2.8 trillion as of the end of July, according to data reported Wednesday by the Treasury Department. (The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.)
Aug. 18 marks the 100-year anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women in the United States the right to vote. As this milestone approaches, about half of Americans (49%) say granting women the right to vote has been the most important milestone in advancing the position of women in the country, according to a Pew Research Center study. And while many Americans say the last decade has seen progress in the fight for gender equality, a majority say the country still hasn’t gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men.
Here are some key takeaways from the report, which was based on a nationally representative survey of 3,143 U.S. adults conducted online from March 18-April 1, 2020.
