Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders at the Feb. 7 Democratic presidential primary debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In the wake of Super Tuesday, the Democratic presidential primary field has narrowed to front-runners Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Democrats see big ideological differences between the two candidates, according to data from Pew Research Center’s Election News Pathways project.
Most Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents describe Sanders’ political views as liberal (70%), including about half (48%) who say he is “very liberal.” By contrast, Democrats are about as likely to describe Biden’s views as moderate (31%) as they are to describe them as liberal (31%); 20% view Biden as conservative.
About 15% of Democrats say they’re not sure what Sanders’ or Biden’s political views are (14% and 16%, respectively). Uncertainty about their views is especially high among Democrats who are not following election news closely (31% for Biden, 25% for Sanders). Read More →
Elizabeth Warren at a rally in Detroit on Super Tuesday, March 3. (Seth Herald/APF/AFP via Getty Images)
There were a record-breaking six female candidates in the field when the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination began. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts suspended her campaign after a disappointing Super Tuesday showing, that left only Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who did not qualify for the most recent Democratic debate and picked up only one delegate in Tuesday’s voting. This turn of events has renewed the discussion of gender in politics. We asked Americans in a 2018 Pew Research Center survey for their views about the state of female leadership in the United States and the obstacles women face. Most of these facts are drawn from that survey. Read More →
Online dating has grown in popularity, but many young women report experiencing some form of harassment on these platforms, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
Six-in-ten women under the age of 35 who have used online dating sites or apps say someone continued to contact them after they said they were not interested, compared with 27% of men in this age range. Younger female users are also about twice as likely as their male counterparts to say someone on a dating site or app has called them an offensive name (44% vs. 23%) or threatened to physically harm them (19% vs. 9%). Read More →
When it comes to where Americans place their trust as they gather information before making an important decision, a big majority (81%) say they rely a lot on their own research – many more than say they rely a lot on friends and family (43%) or professional experts (31%), according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey. Some 15% also say they rely on their own research “a little” as they make major decisions.
The 96% of those in the survey who said they rely on their own research a lot or a little were asked to explain in their own words what they mean by “doing their own research.” In answering this open-ended question, they cited a host of sources that often start – but do not end – with searching on the internet. Overall, 46% explained they turned to digital tools, while 25% said they turned to other people for advice. Less commonly cited strategies for self-conducted research included people relying on their prior education or life experiences (11%), reading print media (8%), and consulting religious wisdom (4%). For some, it meant letting their instincts and “gut” inform their decision. Many reported using multiple strategies when seeking advice, often depending on the type of decision they are trying to make.
Several themes stood out as Americans explained in writing the way they do their own research when they make big decisions (responses edited for punctuation, spelling and clarity). Read More →
Since at least 2012, Americans have been more likely to say there are strong conflicts between Democrats and Republicans than exist between other groups in U.S. society, such as rich and poor people, young and older people, and black and white people.
But as a contentious political year unfolds, the share of adults who see strong partisan conflicts – particularly the share who perceive very strong conflicts between Democrats and Republicans – is much higher today than in 2016 or 2012, when the last two presidential elections took place.
About nine-in-ten Americans (91%) say that conflicts between the party coalitions are either strong or very strong, according to a Pew Research Center survey in January. About seven-in-ten (71%) say these conflicts are very strong.
California is home to more immigrant eligible voters than any other state. Above, voters in Los Angeles prepare their ballots on March 1 during early voting for the presidential primary. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
About one-in-ten people eligible to vote in this year’s U.S. presidential election are immigrants. And most (61%) of these 23 million naturalized citizens live in just five states.
California has more immigrant eligible voters (5.5 million) than any other state, more than New York (2.5 million) and Florida (2.5 million) combined. Texas and New Jersey round out the top five, with 1.8 million and 1.2 million immigrant eligible voters, respectively.
Here is a closer look at immigrant eligible voters in these five states. Read More →
Activists gather at the annual March for Life, an event that marks the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade case. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Americans enter this key stretch feeling good about the Supreme Court. While a 62% majority of Americans overall have a favorable opinion of the court, Christians are more likely than religiously unaffiliated Americans to see it favorably (69% vs. 51%). This includes about seven-in-ten among white evangelical Protestants, white Protestants who do not identify as born-again or evangelical Christians (72% each), and Catholics (70%), according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in July 2019.
Donald Trump has long pushed for a tougher approach on illegal immigration, both on the U.S.-Mexico border and elsewhere in the country. As a candidate for president, Trump pledged to build a border wall to reduce illegal crossings. And shortly after being elected, Trump said his administration would deport as many as 3 million unauthorized immigrants with criminal records living in the United States.
So how has immigration enforcement changed under Trump? Here’s a look at the data on three key measures – border apprehensions, interior arrests and deportations – based on the latest available full-year statistics from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The analysis also includes data about how various immigration policies and agencies are perceived by the U.S. public, based on Pew Research Center surveys. Read More →
A voter in San Francisco signing in at the polls on Feb. 5, 2008 – a day that came to be known as “Super Duper Tuesday” for the number of Democratic primaries and caucuses held and delegates awarded. (David Paul Morris/Getty Images)
March 3 is “Super Tuesday” on this year’s Democratic presidential nominating calendar – the biggest single day in both number of elections and the total number of delegates at stake. All told, 1,357 delegates, or about 34% of all pledged delegates to this summer’s Democratic National Convention, will be chosen in 14 state primaries and one territorial caucus (American Samoa). And a weeklong “global primary” for overseas Democratic voters also starts March 3, with 13 delegates at stake.
While clearly significant, this year’s Super Tuesday is by no means the “super-est” – or the earliest – one the Democratic Party has ever had. By both contests held and delegates awarded, the party’s biggest Super Tuesday was Feb. 5, 2008 – 1,688 delegates, more than 47% of the pledged total, were chosen in 24 primaries and caucuses, a haul so impressive that it was dubbed “Super-Duper Tuesday” and “Tsunami Tuesday.” (This post focuses on the Democrats because Republicans aren’t having a competitive nomination contest this year.) Read More →
Climate change has emerged as a key issue in the 2020 Democratic primary season. Candidates are debating how best to address the subject, which many Americans see as a growing national priority. As 14 states and one territory prepare to hold primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday, here’s a look at how Democrats see climate change – and how their views differ from those of Republicans. Read More →
In the wake of Super Tuesday, the Democratic presidential primary field has narrowed to front-runners Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Democrats see big ideological differences between the two candidates, according to data from Pew Research Center’s Election News Pathways project.
