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  • short reads

    Can Name the Current Vice President

    That’s the percentage of the public who could name the current vice president, Dick Cheney, in a recent Pew survey; In 1989, 74% of the public were able to identify Dan Quayle as the vice president.

  • report

    Campus Rampage is 2007’s Biggest Story By Far

    The Attorney General faced a grilling from Congress, the Supreme Court weighed in on abortion rights, hundreds were slaughtered in a single day in Iraq, and a vicious storm wreaked havoc on the East Coast. But each of those events last week was completely overshadowed by the media’s non-stop coverage of the horrific events that unfolded on the campus of Virginia Tech.

  • report

    Religion and the Presidential Vote: A Tale of Two Gaps

    by John C. Green, Senior Fellow in Religion and American Politics For the presidential candidates and the pundits who write about them, one concern in the 2008 campaign is the “religion gap” – shorthand for the religious differences between Republican and Democratic voters. An analysis of national exit polls from 2004 shows there is not […]

  • short reads

    States Condemn National Standards for Drivers Licenses

    That’s the number of states that have passed or are considering proposals condemning the 2005 federal law requiring states to adopt uniform security features for driver’s licenses and to verify the identity of all driver’s license applicants. Last week, two states, Montana and Washington, passed laws rejecting the standards and ratcheting up pressure on Congress to repeal them.

  • report

    Imus Becomes a Proxy Issue for Talk Shows

    To say Don Imus’s controversial words were a big topic on the talk shows last week is an understatement. The Imus story ruled the talk airwaves like no other since the Index began, taking up 61% of the talk time. But often Imus was less the subject of the talk than a way to take on other people and issues.

  • fact sheet

    High Court Decision Could Raise Abortion’s Profile in Campaign

    by David Masci, Senior Research Fellow, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life Wednesday’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision upholding a federal law banning a controversial abortion procedure may dramatically raise abortion’s visibility in the presidential election campaign. The ruling, a victory for anti-abortion advocates, will almost certainly energize both sides in the abortion debate and […]

  • report

    Pope to Visit ’Pentecostalized’ Brazil

    April 19, 2007 Updated: May 9, 2007 by Luis Lugo, Director, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life When Pope Benedict XVI landed in São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport on May 9, he entered a religious landscape very different from the one that confronted his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, on his first visit to […]

  • short reads

    Think Environmental Laws and Regulations Should Be Stricter

    That’s the large percentage of Americans who think that environmental laws and regulations should be stricter. But when asked if “people should be willing to pay higher prices to protect the environment,” the number agreeing falls to 60%, down from 65% in 2003.

  • short reads

    Have a Favorable Opinion of the NRA

    That’s the share of Americans who said they had a favorable view of the National Rifle Association in a survey taken before the Virginia Tech shootings, the first time since 1994 that the favorability rating of the anti-gun-control advocacy group has crossed the 50% mark.