Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Survey Findings Pre-election polling is tricky work. A number of unknown factors can stand in the way of accurate predictions — problems with identifying registered and likely voters, uncertainties about voter turnout, and last-minute shifts in candidate preference. But estimating voter preferences in biracial elections has been especially difficult. Pre-election surveys, even those taken just […]
The public’s news interests help explain the relative resilience of these news sources. Crime, health and community — the focus of much of today’s local news — are the subjects that most interest Americans. The public expresses considerably less interest in news about political figures and events in Washington and international affairs — topics which […]
Introduction and Summary President Clinton’s lofty performance ratings are benefiting the Democratic Party, which is now in a stronger position with American voters than it has been for some time. In contrast, continuing negative perceptions of Republican congressional leaders are hamstringing the image of their party. By the biggest margin of the decade, the public […]
Not Much Going On… The public is unimpressed with the performance of the 105th Congress thus far. When asked to name the most important thing that has happened in the new Congress so far this year, fully 72% could not cite a single item. Those who responded gave a random assortment of legislative initiatives, led […]
News Interest Index The disastrous floods in the West and Northwest were the most closely followed story of the month: about a third of Americans (34%) said they followed these stories “very closely”. This number rose to 62% in the West. But the top Washington story was the proposed reform of the Social Security system […]
Dole’s Image The respective campaign success and failure of Clinton and Dole with various constituencies emerges more clearly in the public’s assessment of each candidate’s personal character, attitudes and performance. In these measurements, Dole has lost ground or has not improved for the most part compared to seven months ago. For example, fewer voters now […]
Analysis Breakdowns An analysis of recent Pew Research Center surveys Republicans… Who They Are Despite its resurgence over the past 20 years, the Republican Party has never been numerically superior to the Democratic Party. For most of the 1990’s, the two have been essentially equal in this respect. In our most recent surveys, the Center […]
Dole’s Door Still Open? Clinton’s consistent margin over Dole and Perot notwithstanding, respondents in the Pew Research Center survey gave answers to a number of questions that indicate the potential for a closer contest. Only a minority of voters said they were strong supporters of either of the candidates — 20% for Clinton and 11% […]
Introduction and Summary Religion is a strong and growing force in the way Americans think about politics. It has a bearing on political affiliation, political values, policy attitudes and candidate choice. Its increasing influence on political opinion and behavior rivals factors such as race, region, age, social class and gender. More specifically, religion has a […]