Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

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Politics

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    The Growing Gap between Landline and Dual Frame Election Polls

    A new analysis of Pew Research Center pre-election surveys conducted this year finds that support for Republican candidates was significantly higher in samples based only on landlines than in dual frame samples that combined landline and cell phone interviews. The difference in the margin among likely voters this year is about twice as large as in 2008.

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    About the Survey

    Results for this survey are based on telephone interviews conducted November 11-14, 2010 among a national sample of 1,001 adults 18 years of age or older living in the continental United States (670 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 331 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 136 who had no landline telephone). […]

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    Test Your News IQ

    Take our latest quiz about prominent people and major events in the news. Then see how you did in comparison with 1,000 randomly sampled adults.

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    Public Knows Basic Facts about Politics, Economics, But Struggles with Specifics

    Americans see the big picture when it comes to the changing balance of power in Washington, but is not sure which party controls which house of Congress or who the next speaker will be. Many have a good idea about the growth of the federal deficit, but the public struggles with questions about specifics of the budget, TARP and inflation.

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    Midterm Elections Still Top Public Interest

    Summary of Findings The public continued to focus most closely on the outcome of the midterm elections last week as news coverage highlighted their impact on the balance of power and the agenda in Washington. A quarter of the public (25%) says they followed news about the election outcome more closely than any other major […]

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    Election Results Draw Big Interest, Heavy Coverage

    Summary of Findings The results of the midterm elections dominated both the public’s interest and media attention last week as Republicans easily won control of the House while making big gains in the Senate and in many statehouses. Fully 43% say they followed news about the election outcome more closely than any other news, according […]

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    Public Support for Increased Trade, Except With South Korea and China

    Overview The public is of two minds when it comes to trade with other countries. Most Americans say that increased trade with Canada, Japan and European Union countries – as well as India, Brazil and Mexico – would be good for the United States. But reactions are mixed to increased trade with South Korea and […]

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    Americans Are of Two Minds on Trade

    The public wants increased trade with Canada, Japan and several other countries (China and South Korea being notable exceptions), but support for free trade agreements is at a 13-year low, and more say trade agreements have negative rather than positive impact on jobs, wages and economic growth.