Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
On Sept. 28, pastors from 20 states will give politically based sermons from the pulpit as part of a protest organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal-advocacy group. The protest will challenge an Internal Revenue Code restriction that limits the political activities of charitable organizations – including churches and other religious groups – […]
Summary of Findings As he has since January, this week, Barack Obama enjoyed much more visibility as far as the public was concerned than did John McCain. By a margin of 76% to 11% respondents in Pew’s weekly News Interest Index survey named Obama over McCain as the candidate they have heard the most about […]
Two men who are non-candidates for president drove the media story lines in the campaign last week. Jesse Jackson’s brutal remarks about Barack Obama may have helped the Democrats. Phil Gramm’s about the recession being largely mental did not help his friend John McCain.
Overview The public continues to be extremely downbeat about the national economy. Just 10% say the economy is in good shape, while 72% say the economy is either in a recession (54%) or a depression (18%). On a personal level, concerns about rising prices have surged. Beyond widespread anxiety about energy costs, a growing number […]
Summary of Findings As the floods in the Midwest continued to devastate parts of that region, public interest in the story increased moderately last week, but still remained significantly lower than interest in the massive floods that struck the region in 1993. Roughly four-in-ten (39%) followed the floods in the Midwest very closely, up from […]
Summary of Findings The public continues to express strong interest in news about the economy. More than four-in-ten (42%) tracked economic news very closely last week, only slightly below the 45% who tracked news about the economy very closely in mid-March, which was a 15-year high. And while several specific economic and financial news stories […]
The three candidates with the best shot at next occupying the White House all got extensive coverage in the biggest week yet for campaign news. But none of them generated the headlines he or she really wanted. And, once again, Huckabee proved that the reports of his political demise were premature.
The two biggest names in talk radio are telling their listeners how to separate the real conservatives from phonies. And some hosts seemed to “cover” the campaign by becoming part of the story.
Summary of Findings The videos of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s controversial sermons and Barack Obama’s subsequent speech on race and politics have attracted more public attention than any events thus far in the 2008 presidential campaign. A majority of the public (51%) said they heard “a lot” about the videos, and an even larger percentage (54%) […]