Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Public Views of Faith-Based Initiatives Since early 2001, when the Bush administration first established a White House office to expand the role of religious organizations in providing social services, there have been clear divisions in public attitudes toward faith-based initiatives. The public has continuously supported the principle of allowing houses of worship, along with other […]
Just one-in-five African Americans now say things are better for blacks now than they were five years ago — down from 70% who said so in 1969.
Potential Candidate Weaknesses Barack Obama’s relative inexperience in national politics is seen by more voters as having a negative effect on his candidacy than his race. Roughly four-in-ten voters (42%) say Obama will be hurt by the fact that he is new to national politics; just 22% believe he will be hurt by the fact […]
Overview The public continues to be extremely downbeat about the national economy. Just 10% say the economy is in good shape, while 72% say the economy is either in a recession (54%) or a depression (18%). On a personal level, concerns about rising prices have surged. Beyond widespread anxiety about energy costs, a growing number […]
For much of last week, the Democrats’ effort to make peace and reintroduce Obama to voters were the focal points of campaign coverage. How much success did John McCain have in suddenly stealing the media narrative?
by Richard Wike, Associate Director, Pew Global Attitudes Project In the Middle East and elsewhere, Muslim reaction to the Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has been swift and angry, with protests in Amman, Beirut, Istanbul, Tehran, Jakarta, and several other capitals. Palestinians in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank, where Hamas rival […]
Faced with a long-running and difficult war in Iraq, continued worries about terror attacks and growing economic uncertainty at home, the public became less supportive of global engagement during the final years of the Bush presidency. That marked a significant change from the period immediately after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when there […]
The explosion of readily available news and information on the web has, at least in part, eclipsed the long-held role of daily newspapers to deliver the news, but has yet to touch their unique contribution to the American democratic process: the ability to explore in depth highly complex subjects of public interest. As a rule, […]
Once he takes office, President-elect Barack Obama will have to navigate a world that has grown highly critical of the United States. Since 2001, the Pew Global Attitudes Project has documented a decline in America’s international image amid widespread opposition to U.S. foreign policy.
In spite of the huge television audiences for both political conventions and the strongly positive initial public reaction to the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee, the electorate in September divides along most of the same demographic lines as it did prior to the conventions – and very much along the […]