Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
Part 1: An overview of the digital divide Half the adults in America (those 18 and over) do not have Internet access. That is more than 94 million people. Previous studies on the “digital divide” have highlighted the fact that those without Internet access are less well off financially and are more likely to be […]
Tight Battle for Congress The battle for control of Congress is as close and as hard-fought as the presidential contest. But there is no sign that national issues or concerns are playing a major role in the struggle for Capitol Hill, and voters do not appear particularly dissatisfied with their own representatives or with Congress […]
State of the Nation Al Gore is benefitting from two seemingly disparate trends — higher satisfaction with the state of the nation and increased worry about longer-term economic issues. A substantial dip in public satisfaction with national conditions, which was particularly evident in the spring and early summer, has reversed itself. More than half of […]
The decline in the number of Americans who say they enjoy the news is a continuation of a long-term trend. In 1995, a majority (54%) said they enjoyed keeping up with the news a lot. That number fell to 50% in 1998 and 45% this year. While Americans remain generally satisfied with the quality of […]
Might-Miss TV? Just one-in-ten Americans (13%) plan to watch all or most of the television coverage of the GOP convention, while another 28% say they’ll watch some of it. Older Americans are both more interested in the convention and more apt to watch the television coverage. But even among Republicans, there is scant interest in […]
The Public’s Mood Mellows Satisfaction with the state of the nation is down slightly over the past 12 months, though still high relative to the early 1990s. In the current survey, 47% of citizens say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country, down from recent highs of 56% in August […]
Bush Bounces Back In the presidential race, key voting groups continue to shift back and forth between Bush and Gore, as the public is clearly having difficulty making up its mind about this contest. Some of the gains Gore made in the immediate aftermath of the primary season have since been reversed. Senior citizens rallied […]
Issues Edge For Gore Gore not only has improved his image, he holds a commanding lead over Bush as the candidate best able to handle most major policy issues. The vice president out-polls Bush on nine of 15 issues tested. The biggest gaps come on traditional Democratic issues, such as improving conditions for minority groups […]
Fewer Turn To Broadcast TV and Papers While television continues to be the principal source of campaign news for a large majority of Americans, the percentage of people relying on either network (24%) or local television (25%) to keep up with the campaign has fallen over the past four years (down from 39% and 34%, […]
More Attention to Presidential Campaign Attention to the presidential campaign is continuing to increase. More than six-in-ten (62%) Americans are paying some attention to the campaign, up from the 53% who were doing so only a month ago. The percentage of Americans who are following the 2000 election very closely has jumped to 26% this […]