Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

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  • short reads

    Negative Campaigning

    That’s the percentage of voters who say there has been more mud-slinging and negative campaigning this year compared with recent elections. On the eve of the previous midterm, just 51% said that campaign was marred by more mud-slinging, while 52% expressed that view shortly before the 1998 midterms.

  • short reads

    Too Many Safe Seats?

    That’s the tiny percentage of Americans who, going into this week’s elections, said they had heard a lot about the concern among some politicians and political experts over the lack of competitiveness in U.S. elections. And while 71% of voters in districts with competitive House elections said the race was close in their district, a majority of voters (55%) in non-competitive districts also thought their local House races were shaping up to be close.

  • report

    Can the Exit Polls be Fixed?

    Problems with exit polls affected the last three election cycles and wreaked havoc with media coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential balloting. With the crucial 2006 midterm election upon us, exit pollsters hope they’ve resolved those troubling issues. What is the status of the poll?

  • presentation

    User-Generated Content

    More than a third or 35% of online adults create content online, and 57% of teenagers 12-17 make their own content to post to the Web. Younger users and home broadband users are the most avid content creators, and most post their creations online …

  • presentation

    The impact of the internet on politics

    Is the internet the lever for direct democracy? Or is it a wedge for political polarization? An assessment of the first 10 years of online politics.

  • short reads

    Party Control Matters

    That’s the percentage of registered voters who say the issue of which party controls Congress will be a factor in their vote when they go to the polls Tuesday. That’s much higher than in recent midterm elections. More Democrats than Republicans say party control matters (73% vs. 65%). But party control is a bigger factor for Republicans than it was just a few weeks ago (65% vs. 58% in early October).

  • report

    Republicans Cut Democratic Lead in Campaign’s Final Days

    Summary of Findings A nationwide Pew Research Center survey finds voting intentions shifting in the direction of Republican congressional candidates in the final days of the 2006 midterm campaign. The new survey finds a growing percentage of likely voters saying they will vote for GOP candidates. However, the Democrats still hold a 48% to 40% […]

  • report

    A Closer Look at Plunging Circulation

    The new numbers released this week were bad enough for a newspaper industry that lost nearly 3% of its circulation in the last year. But when you factor in subscriber discounts, the economic picture gets worse. And the industry’s efforts to compensate for decreasing circulation with increasing online readership may not stand up to scrutiny.