Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Overview Polls conducted in 2009 have found fewer Americans expressing support for abortion than in previous years. In Pew Research Center polls in 2007 and 2008, supporters of legal abortion clearly outnumbered opponents; now Americans are evenly divided on the question, and there have been modest increases in the numbers who favor reducing abortions or […]
Religious and Moral Influence on the Debate One-third of Americans (32%) say their religious beliefs are the primary influence on their attitudes toward abortion. Roughly one-in-five cite their education (21%), and one-in-seven point to their personal experience (14%). Fewer say the views of their family and friends (6%) or what they have seen or read […]
Overview Eight years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans see Muslims as facing more discrimination inside the U.S. than other major religious groups. Nearly six-in-ten adults (58%) say that Muslims are subject to a lot of discrimination, far more than say the same about Jews, evangelical Christians, atheists or Mormons. In fact, of all […]
This report focuses on the pathways into adulthood taken by Latino and other youth ages 16 to 25. The analysis includes all youths and is not restricted to civilian youths or noninstitutionalized youths. Hence, we can present a comprehensive portrait of the activities of youths. Using information on residence and status at the time of […]
Barack Obama’s job approval ratings have remained stable over the course of the last several months. Currently, 52% of Americans approve of the president’s job performance while 36% disapprove. Eight-in-ten (80%) Democrats approve of the way Obama is handling his job, compared with 49% of independents and just 20% of Republicans. As with his overall […]
Americans’ views of the link between Islam and violence have fluctuated in recent years. Currently, a plurality (45%) says Islam is no more likely than other faiths to encourage violence among its believers, compared with 38% who say that Islam does encourage violence more than other religions. This is similar to positions on this issue […]
Just months after the nation’s first African American president took the oath of office, many Americans see a society making progress in its dealings with race. Still, deep racial and political divisions remain in assessments of the gravity of the problems and how best to address them. And in most cases, attitudes have not changed […]
One of the major findings from the 1991 Times Mirror Center study was the high level of antipathy toward ethnic and religious minorities in Eastern Europe. With communist rule over in most of the region, and in its final stages in the Soviet Union, long-simmering conflicts among groups within these societies were reemerging. Today, in […]