Only 17% of African Americans view gangsta rapper 50 Cent as a “good influence,” by far the lowest approval rating accorded any on a list of black newsmakers in a recent Pew survey.

That’s the percentage of Muslim Americans who say they are Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party.

Reducing the influence of lobbyists and special interest groups in Washington is now a much higher priority among Republicans than it was a year ago; roughly four-in-ten Republicans (42%) currently rate such efforts a top priority, up from 28% in January 2007.

Half of adult internet users say they think it would be “pretty easy” for someone to find them based on the information available about them online.

Nearly eight-in-ten Americans feel that prices in the US have risen “a lot” in recent years.

Fully two-thirds of Americans (66%) think that Fidel Castro, who resigned as president of Cuba this week, has been bad for his country.

That’s the score tallied by President Abraham Lincoln in a nationwide 2007 Gallup poll that asked respondents to name the “greatest United States president.” In Gallup’s 2005 survey on the issue, two recent presidents, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, outpolled the Civil War president who was born on February 12, 199 years ago.

Six-in-ten Muslim Americans (61%) say they pray every day, somewhat fewer than the 70% of U.S. Christians who say they pray daily.