Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Most Want Middle Ground on Abortion Though support for legal abortion has slipped and sizeable numbers of the public lack respect for opposing views on abortion, most Americans remain committed to the idea that the nation should find a way to compromise on abortion issues. Six-in-ten say the country needs to find a middle ground […]
Broad-based Decline in Support for Legal Abortion Recently, Americans have become more opposed to legal abortion. New analysis of combined Pew Research Center surveys conducted over the past three years shows that in 2007 and 2008, supporters of abortion rights clearly outnumbered opponents of abortion (those saying it should be illegal in most or all […]
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 […]
Opinions among members of the Council on Foreign Relations about which U.S. allies and partners will be more important in the future – and those that will be less important – have changed dramatically since the last America’s Place in the World survey in 2005. Fully 58% now say that China will be a more […]
Liberals Less Engaged on Abortion Issue Only a small minority of Americans (15%) say abortion is a critical issue facing the country today, down from 28% who said this in 2006. One-third says it is one important issue among many, while nearly half of the public (48%) says the issue of abortion is unimportant. Analysis […]
More Americans continue to view the Republican Party as friendly toward religion (48%) than rate the Democratic Party that way (29%). President Barack Obama’s administration, however, is seen as friendly toward religion by more people (37%) than the Democratic Party as a whole. And all three get higher ratings for friendliness toward religion than the […]
The Government Restrictions Index is based on 20 questions used by the Pew Forum to assess whether governments – including at the local or provincial level – restrict religious practices or beliefs. The questions are intended to gauge the extent to which governments try to control religious groups or individuals, prohibit conversions from one faith […]
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 […]