Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Use of the Internet to research a service or product has increased significantly. 83% of Internet users have researched a product online as of December 2002. That represents growth of 52% from 64 million who had done product research online as of March 2000, to 97 million who said they had done such research as […]
Americans have long had a cynical view of politics and politicians. But these attitudes are no more widespread today than before the overtime presidential election of 2000. In fact, on several measures, the public is considerably less negative toward politics now than in the mid-1990s, when anti-Washington hostility was rampant. And one important trend continues: […]
Americans feel a strong sense of personal empowerment and have long valued the benefits of hard work. If anything, those sentiments are shared even more widely today than when the Center’s values surveys began in 1987. By more than two-to-one (67%-30%), the public rejects the idea that “Success in life is pretty much determined by […]
The public has long had conflicted attitudes toward the nation’s corporations. There is broad agreement that America’s strength is largely attributable to the success of business. Yet most people also believe corporations are too powerful and more interested in making a profit than in serving the public interest. These attitudes also have remained fairly stable […]
Overview Over the past four years, the American electorate has been dealt a series of body blows, each capable of altering the political landscape. The voting system broke down in a presidential election. A booming economy faltered, punctuated by revelations of one of the worst business scandals in U.S. history. And the country endured a […]
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks profoundly affected the way Americans view national security threats and their own sense of personal safety. But for the most part, the public’s views about global engagement and the role of military power have stayed fairly stable since the Center began its values surveys 16 years ago. The public is […]
Parity in partisan affiliation is a relatively new phenomenon in American politics. For most of the period between the late 1930s through the beginning of the 21st century, the Democratic party held an advantage often sizable over the Republicans in party identification. The Democratic lead in party identification was modest through the 1940s […]
America remains an intensely religious nation and, if anything, the trend since the late 1980s has been toward stronger religious belief. Eight-in-ten Americans (81%) say that prayer is an important part of their daily lives, and just as many believe there will be a Judgment Day when people will be called before God to answer […]
Summary of Findings Voter opinion is still fluid in the early Democratic primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and especially South Carolina. As with the candidates themselves, there are significant disagreements among likely primary voters in these pivotal states on such key issues as how to deal with the postwar situation in Iraq, gay marriage […]
Civil Liberties and Terrorism For the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, half of Americans say it will not be necessary for the average person to sacrifice civil liberties in the struggle against terrorism, while 44% believe such steps will be necessary. In three previous surveys since Sept. 11, 2001, majorities or pluralities […]