Quarterly Update
A message from Pew Research Center President Michael Dimock · Subscribe ↗
Dear readers,
A lot has happened since my last quarterly update. Joe Biden is the 46th president of the United States, Donald Trump is a private citizen again and the already severe public health toll of the coronavirus outbreak has grown considerably worse. The approval and distribution of vaccines is a source of welcome good news in the fight against COVID-19.
The nation’s new president is moving ahead on a legislative agenda aimed at beating the pandemic and restoring the economy, priorities backed by about eight-in-ten Americans. But even as Biden pushes for legislation, Trump’s contentious presidency is still very much in the spotlight. The Senate will meet in early February for an unprecedented second impeachment trial to examine Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters.
In this newsletter, we take a closer look at how the U.S. changed during Trump’s turbulent four years in office. We look back at the 2020 election’s aftermath, and we highlight some of our recent research on the pandemic and the ongoing changes in the way Americans access and interpret news and information.
All my best,
Michael Dimock
President, Pew Research Center
How America changed during Donald Trump’s presidency
Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House revealed extraordinary fissures in American society, from deeply partisan and personal divides to a dearth of shared facts and information to new concerns over American democracy. The aftershocks of Trump’s one-of-a-kind presidency will take years to place into full historical context, but some key societal shifts are already clear.
Election 2020
The weeks following the Nov. 3 election were an uneasy stretch for Americans, with uncertainty about the outcome culminating in an unprecedented assault on the U.S. Capitol. In a post-election survey, most voters were fearful and angry about the state of the country, but a majority were hopeful too.
Featured research
- In their own words: How Americans reacted to the rioting at the U.S. Capitol
- 2020 election reveals two broad voting coalitions fundamentally at odds
- Understanding how 2020 election polls performed and what it might mean for other kinds of survey work
- Voters say those on the other side ‘don’t get’ them. Here’s what they want them to know
Coronavirus pandemic
More than 425,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, and President Joe Biden has cautioned that the toll will likely grow much higher in the months ahead. As the U.S. begins the monumental task of vaccinating its population, the pandemic continues to disrupt all corners of American life.
Featured research
- Most Americans say another round of COVID-19 economic relief will be needed
- A rising share of working parents in the U.S. say it’s been difficult to handle child care during the pandemic
- Americans say the U.S. can learn a lot from other countries on handling the coronavirus outbreak, other issues
- How the coronavirus outbreak has – and hasn’t – changed the way Americans work
News in the digital age
A large portion of Americans continue to rely on Facebook and other social media sites for news, even as these companies struggle to deal with misleading information on their platforms. Meanwhile, the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of the news landscape has made the task of measuring news consumption more challenging for researchers.
Featured research
- News use on social media: Facebook stands out as a regular source of news for about a third of Americans
- More than eight-in-ten Americans get news from digital devices
- Measuring news consumption in a digital era
- Two-thirds of U.S. adults say they’ve seen their own news sources report facts meant to favor one side
