Publications

65% of U.S. adults say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency.

Americans’ views of politics and elected officials are unrelentingly negative, with little hope of improvement on the horizon. 65% of Americans say they always or often feel exhausted when thinking about politics. By contrast, just 10% say they always or often feel hopeful about politics.

Public trust in government remains low, as it has for much of the 21st century. Only two-in-ten Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (19%).

Six-in-ten U.S. adults say gun violence is a very big problem in the country today, up 9 percentage points from spring 2022.

If Congress passes the Oct. 1 deadline without either a new set of spending bills or a continuing resolution, nonessential operations would be forced to shutdown.

The share of Americans who say the United States stands above all other nations in the world has declined modestly over the past four years.

About four-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (41%) say Reagan has done the best job as president over the past 40 years, compared with 37% who say Trump.

Gun owners in the United States continue to cite protection far more than other factors, including hunting and sport shooting, as a major reason they own a gun. About half of Americans who don’t own a gun say they could never see themselves owning one (52%) while nearly as many could imagine themselves as gun owners in the future (47%).

As the Earth’s temperature continues to rise, climate change remains a lower priority for some Americans, and a subset of the public rejects that it’s happening at all. To better understand the perspectives of those who see less urgency to address climate change, the Center conducted a series of in-depth interviews designed to provide deeper insight into the motivations and views of those most skeptical about climate change.

57% of Americans say they would prefer to live in a community where houses are larger and farther away from amenities — compared to 42% who say the opposite.