The U.S. Constitution does not mention the Bible, God, Jesus or Christianity, and the First Amendment clarifies that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Still, some scholars have argued that the Bible heavily influenced America’s founders.
Today, about half of Americans (49%) say the Bible should have at least “some” influence on U.S. laws, including nearly a quarter (23%) who say it should have “a great deal” of influence, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Among U.S. Christians, two-thirds (68%) want the Bible to influence U.S. laws at least some, and among white evangelical Protestants, this figure rises to about nine-in-ten (89%).
At the other end of the spectrum, there’s broad opposition to biblical influence on U.S. laws among religiously unaffiliated Americans, also known as religious “nones,” who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” Roughly three-quarters in this group (78%) say the Bible should hold little to no sway, including 86% of self-described atheists who say the Bible should not influence U.S. legislation at all. Two-thirds of U.S. Jews, as well, think the Bible should have not much or should have no influence on laws. Read More →
Amid these changes, three-in-ten U.S. adults think it’s a good thing that there is growing variety in the types of family arrangements people live in, while about half as many (16%) say this is a bad thing. The largest share (45%) don’t think it makes a difference, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in June 2019.
Opinions about the growing variety in family living arrangements have changed over the course of a decade. In 2010, somewhat similar shares of adults saw this as a good thing (34%), a bad thing (29%) or something that makes no difference (32%). Since then, the share saying it makes no difference has increased considerably, while the shares seeing it as a good thing or bad thing have declined by 4 and 13 percentage points, respectively. Read More →
A sign reading “peace” in English and Spanish at the Doctor Tolosa Latour public school in Madrid. Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images)
Students in Europe learn foreign languages in school at a much higher rate than their American counterparts. They also tend to learn more languages throughout their education due to national mandates. Part of this linguistic imbalance may be because most European students are learning English in school, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.
Across Europe, 91% of students in primary and secondary school were studying English in 2017 – more than all other foreign languages learned combined by a large margin, according to data from Eurostat, the statistics arm of the European Commission. The next-most studied languages in European schools are French, German and Spanish, each garnering no more than 15% of students participating in 2017. Russian, studied in a formal classroom by 2% of Europeans, is the only other foreign language that more than 1% of European students learn. Read More →
Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults in the United States are avid users of online dating sites and apps, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. LGB online daters generally report that their experiences with online dating have been positive – even more so than straight online daters. At the same time, they are more likely than their straight counterparts to experience a range of negative behaviors on dating platforms – from name-calling to physical threats.
One of the advantages of online dating is that it can help people with a small pool of potential partners – such as those seeking same-sex partners – to find a match. To that end, the survey finds that a majority of LGB adults (55%) report that they have used an online dating site or app at some point, roughly twice the share of straight adults (28%) who say the same. Among LGB adults who are married, living with a partner, or in a committed relationship, 28% say they met their current partner online, compared with 11% of partnered straight adults. And among LGB people who are now single and looking for a relationship or dates, 37% are currently online dating (vs. 24% of straight people who are single and looking).
Fox News host Sean Hannity’s pre-Super Bowl interview with President Trump shows at a Washington, D.C., bar on Feb. 2. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Fox News, the influential cable network launched by Rupert Murdoch in 1996, holds a unique place in the American media landscape, particularly for those on the ideological right. While Democrats in the United States turn to and place their trust in a variety of media outlets for political news, no other source comes close to matching the appeal of Fox News for Republicans.
Below are five facts about Fox News and how Americans feel about it. All findings are based on recent surveys from Pew Research Center’s Election News Pathways project, which focuses on what Americans hear, perceive and know about the 2020 presidential election and how these attitudes relate to how and where they get news. (You can use this interactive tool to explore the data from these surveys yourself.) Read More →
While a plurality of Americans (43%) say the new coronavirus most likely came about naturally, nearly three-in-ten (29%) say it most likely was created in a lab, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted from March 10 to 16, 2020, as part of the Center’s nearly yearlong Election News Pathways project.
Around a quarter of adults (23%) say it is most likely that the current strain of coronavirus was developed intentionally in a lab; another 6% say it was most likely made accidentally in a lab. A quarter say they aren’t sure where the virus originated.
People socialize in Washington Square Park amid the coronavirus pandemic in New York City on April 5. (Ron Adar/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
The coronavirus outbreak has impacted life for millions of Americans, but it has not affected people in the same way. Older Americans are more likely than younger adults to feel their own health is at risk, while younger people are more focused on potential economic threats.
Overall, larger shares of U.S. adults view the COVID-19 outbreak as a major threat to the nation’s economy (88%) and the health of the U.S. population as a whole (66%) than to their own finances (49%) and health (36%). Across each of these areas, concerns about the outbreak have increased significantly since mid-March.
The survey, conducted March 19-24, finds that a quarter of adults say the coronavirus outbreak is a major threat to their personal health and finances. About as many (24%) say it is a major threat to their finances, but not to their health. Fewer Americans (11%) view the outbreak as a major threat to their health, but not their finances. However, 40% say it is not a major threat either to their health or their finances.
The educational attainment of recently arrived Latino immigrants in the United States has reached its highest level in at least three decades, reflecting changes in where immigrants are coming from and rising education levels in Latin America and other regions, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
About a quarter (26%) of recently arrived Latino immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2018, up from just 10% in 1990. They are among a rapidly growing share of recently arrived Hispanic immigrants who have completed high school – 67% in 2018, up from 38% in 1990. These increases have helped raise the education levels of all Latino immigrants and shifted the group toward high-skill occupations and away from low-skill ones. Read More →
Newsroom employment dropped by a quarter between 2008 and 2018, but the job cuts were not shouldered equally by journalists of all ages. Midcareer news workers – those ages 35 to 54 – were hit the hardest, accounting for the bulk of the decline, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of American Community Survey data.
In the most recent 10-year period with available data, the number of full-time midcareer newsroom employees in the U.S. dropped by 42%, from about 52,900 to 30,800 workers. The number of newsroom workers ages 55 and older increased by 31%, from about 16,400 to 21,400 – but not enough to offset the losses in the midcareer age group. By comparison, the number of younger newsroom employees (ages 18 to 34) remained relatively stable, with no significant change occurring over the decade. Read More →
Adelia Hurtak wipes down a polling place during the Florida presidential primary in Miami in March. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The coronavirus outbreak has prompted several states to postpone their presidential primaries, citing restrictions on public gatherings. While the postponements will affect people of all ages, they may be particularly relevant for older adults, who tend to account for large shares of both poll workers and voters in general elections in the United States.
In the 2018 general election, around six-in-ten U.S. poll workers (58%) were ages 61 and older, including roughly a quarter (27%) who were over 70, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data from that year’s Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS), a biennial study of states’ administration of federal elections. (This data does not include all states; for more information about the methodology and limitations of this data, see “How we did this.”)
The same pattern appeared in earlier elections. In the 2016 general election, people ages 61 and older accounted for 56% of poll workers, according to that year’s EAVS report.
