Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Updated Nov. 21, 2008 In this article: The Right to Privacy The Road to Lawrence The Lawrence Case The Goodridge Case Same-Sex Marriage in the States Looking Ahead On Nov. 4, 2008, California voters passed Proposition 8, amending the state’s constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. The vote, which was significant enough to make national headlines […]
From the beginning of the Colonial period, religion has been a major factor in shaping the identity and values of the American people. Despite predictions that the United States would follow Europe’s path toward widespread secularization, the U.S. population remains highly religious in its beliefs and practices, and religion continues to play a prominent role […]
For the most part, the issues that rate as most important to voters have changed little since the end of the 2004 presidential campaign. The economy, health care, Iraq and education currently rate as top issues for voters. Those issues ranked near the top of voter concerns in October 2004, and in a Pew survey […]
Rudy Giuliani continues to hold a substantial lead in the GOP primary race. Among Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters, 31% currently favor Giuliani, with John McCain (18%) and Fred Thompson (17%) in a virtual tie for second place. Thompson’s support has dropped five points from a month ago, mostly as a result of decreasing enthusiasm […]
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has collected a variety of resources on Pope Benedict XVI’s views on public policy issues. The resources include links to his homilies and other writings on such issues as social justice, the participation of Catholics in political life, proposals to give legal recognition to same-sex unions, and […]
From the start, the press has tended to produce stories about one candidate at a time, rather than ones that compare candidates or examine broad themes. Fully eight out of 10 stories in the first five months focused mostly on a single candidate. The other 20% of stories concerned comparisons of candidates, electoral issues, the […]
Introduction and Summary A year before the 2008 presidential election, most major national opinion trends decidedly favor the Democrats. Discontent with the state of the nation is markedly greater than it was four years ago. President Bush’s approval rating has fallen from 50% to 30% over this period. And the Democrats’ advantage over the Republicans […]