Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Breakdown by News Genre Factual Reporting Overall, 59% of the reportage was factual reporting–it described what had happened. This reporting had several levels of verification: from multiple named sources, to a single anonymous source to another news outlet. Looking just at this universe of factual reporting, substantially less than half, only 42%, was based on […]
Introduction and Summary The post-Cold War era may be less than a decade old, but Americans whose views help shape U.S. foreign policy have grown remarkably comfortable with it. Compared to four years ago when they were deeply troubled, American Opinion Leaders today see the world as a better place, where U.S. influence is enhanced […]
Survey Findings An analysis of public attentiveness to more than 500 news stories over the last ten years confirms that the American public pays relatively little attention to many of the serious news stories of the day. The major exceptions to this rule are stories dealing with natural and man-made disasters and U.S. military actions. […]
Budget Agreement Clearly, Bill Clinton’s continued high ratings, despite Whitewater and the DNC fund raising scandal, seem more tied to a reduction in economic anxiety than to success with the budget. News interest in the budget debate once again edged down at the very time the President and Republican leaders had come to their historic […]
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 […]
Introduction and Summary As 1996 drew to a close Americans were evaluating their lives much the way they have over the past four decades during good economic times. Most feel they have made personal progress over the past five years, and most are optimistic about the future. Financial stability, good health and a strong family […]
About 12% of Americans go online to get information on current events, public issues and politics. On average, one third of these said they go online for news as many as three days a week. This level of online use has remained fairly stable across six studies completed by the Center this year. Compared to […]
The Pew Research Center survey of 1,003 online users in October 1996 shows slow but steady growth in this activity. Online users are going online at slightly higher rates than was the case some 16 months ago. Their motivations and their behavior have changed somewhat. More are going online for pleasure, and more are seeking […]
Summary Report For this Times Mirror Survey, face-to-face personal interviews were conducted among a nationally representative sample of 2,109 adults during the period from January 8 to 17, 1988. George Bush’s commanding lead among Republicans in national surveys is a consequence of the ground he has gained among Enterprisers since the last Times-Mirror/gallup survey. while […]
The President has a strong lead over Senator Dole among Independent voters (53% vs. 38%). Perhaps most surprisingly, 18% of Republicans say they would be inclined to vote for Clinton over Dole. The defection rate among Democrats, whose party has decided on a candidate, was less than 10%. Clinton also is making a good showing […]