Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Publications

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    Women are catching up to men in most measures of online life

    Washington – A wide-ranging look at the way American women and men use the internet shows that men continue to pursue many internet activities more intensively than women, and that men are still first out of the blocks in trying the latest technologies. At the same time, there are trends showing that women are catching […]

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    What Was – and Wasn’t on the Public’s Mind…

    Public opinion played a major role in the most important news stories of the year, from President Bush’s battle with an increasingly restive opposition, to the public’s mounting anxiety about the war in Iraq, to the sharp public rebuke of Congress for its intervention in the Terry Schiavo affair. Many of the strongest trends in […]

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    Federal Court Strikes Down Intelligent Design Curriculum

    District Court Contends that Dover, Pa., Challenge to Teaching Evolution is an Unconstitutional Endorsement of Religion A federal district court judge ruled today that a Pennsylvania school board’s decision to include intelligent design in the high school science curriculum was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The case, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, was the […]

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    Wal-Mart a Good Place to Shop But Some Critics Too

    Summary of Findings As shoppers flock to the stores for holiday gifts, some express mixed feelings about the nation’s largest retailer. Nearly every American lives near enough a Wal-Mart to shop there, and 84% say they have done so in the past year. Praise for the retailer’s low prices, wide selection and convenience flow freely, […]

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    Public Unmoved by Washington’s Rhetoric on Iraq

    Summary of Findings The political debate over the Iraq war has grown more pointed in recent weeks, as President Bush has embarked upon a series of high-profile speeches defending the war and Democratic Rep. John Murtha has made headlines with his calls for a withdrawal of U.S. forces. But fundamental public attitudes toward the war […]

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    100th Anniversary of Secularism in France

    Introduction December 9, 2005, marks the 100th anniversary of secularism in France, known as “laïcité.” In 1905 the French government passed a law stipulating “the separation of churches and the state,” thus enshrining secularism as a national principle. The law, which barred the state from officially recognizing, funding or endorsing religious groups, represented a major […]