Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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In countries across the globe, people continue to embrace American popular culture and to admire the U.S. for its science and technology. Attitudes toward American ideas about democracy and ways of doing business are more mixed, but global publics are more positive toward both than in the final years of the Bush administration. This is […]
Ahead of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, a 21-nation survey finds that most publics around the world are broadly opposed to Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, and many support economic sanctions to prevent such an acquisition. Opinion is more divided on whether military intervention should be used, especially among the six E3+3 negotiating partners.
Publics in most nations surveyed continue to express more confidence in President Barack Obama than in other key international leaders. Indeed, Obama is more popular in Europe than German Chancellor Angela Merkel, even as the German leader receives mostly positive ratings in France and Britain, as well as in her home country. Reviews of Merkel […]
China’s image has grown more negative over the last year in the U.S., Japan and parts of Europe. However, China continues to receive relatively positive reviews in Russia and Brazil, as well as in several predominantly Muslim countries. Across the 21 nations surveyed, the median percentage with a positive view of China (49%) is very […]
Little is known about the religious makeup of the state prison population. Government agencies routinely report on the gender, racial and ethnic composition of inmates in state and federal prisons (see Appendix C) but not on their religious affiliation. One of the central goals of the Pew Forum survey is to offer a glimpse into […]
The following list includes brief descriptions of some religious groups and other terms used in the survey report that may be unfamiliar to readers. Descriptions have been adapted from the website of the American Correctional Chaplains Association, Associated Press Stylebook, ReligionFacts.com, the Religion Newswriters Association’s Religion Stylebook and ReligiousTolerance.org. American Correctional Chaplains Association A professional […]
According to a survey of professional prison chaplains, America’s state penitentiaries are a bustle of religious activity. Chaplains say that efforts by inmates to convert other inmates are common and that at least some religious switching occurs. And chaplains overwhelmingly consider religion-based programming an important aspect of rehabilitating prisoners.