What kinds of backgrounds do U.S. attorneys general have?
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, closely resembles many previous Justice Department leaders.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Data Labs
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Most Americans take conflicting food studies in stride
While a majority of Americans encounter conflicting news stories about food and healthy eating, most see it as a sign of continued progress in food science.
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Will Trump’s backing revive moribund term-limits movement?
Although the movement to limit congressional terms has been largely dormant for the past two decades, 15 states do limit how many terms their own legislators can serve.
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Among democracies, U.S. stands out in how it chooses its head of state
No other democratic nation fills its top job quite the way the U.S. does, and only a handful are even similar.
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On Election Day, most voters use electronic or optical-scan ballots
The great majority of Americans who vote on Election Day will use one of two basic technologies: “fill-in-the-bubble” and other optical-scan ballots, or touch-screen computers and other direct recording electronic systems.
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Just how does the general election exit poll work, anyway?
The firm that runs the presidential exit poll expects to interview about 100,000 voters across the country by the time the polls close on election night.
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Child marriage is rare in the U.S., though this varies by state
About 57,800 minors in the U.S. ages 15 to 17 are married – or five of every 1,000 in that age group. But the rate of child marriage varies widely between states.
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U.S. electoral system ranks high – but not highest – in global comparisons
Though many Americans say they’re concerned about possible election fraud, the U.S. electoral system generally ranks high in cross-national comparisons.
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Jobs requiring preparation, social skills or both expected to grow most
Much of U.S. job growth over the past 25 years has been in occupations that require higher levels of education, training and experience – a trend that seems likely to continue, based on our analysis of official government job-growth projections.
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Support for marijuana legalization continues to rise
Today, 57% of U.S. adults say use of marijuana should be made legal, while 37% say it should be illegal. A decade ago, opinion was nearly the reverse.
