Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Washington, D.C., (Sunday, August 20th)- American Internet users want a guarantee of privacy online. An overwhelming 86% favor “opt in” policies that would require Internet companies to seek permission from users before they disclose personal information, according to a new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. This view challenges the policy just […]
Tuned Out The presidential campaign is not on the minds of most Americans. Fewer than half of registered voters (46%) say they have thought a lot about the election. That represents a modest decline from a similar point in the campaign four years ago (when 50% said they gave the campaign a lot of thought) […]
Section 1: Americans want a privacy guarantee Privacy has emerged as a central policy concern about the Internet as more Americans go online every day – and recent weeks have brought a ceaseless number of new allegations about privacy violations by Internet companies. In the past three months, a series of events have heightened sensitivities. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Americans Gambling Online Figures from a phone survey of 3,035 American Internet users from March 1 through June 30 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that some 4.5 million Americans have gambled online or played a lottery. That”s about 5% of those who have online access. On a typical day, about 1 […]
Introduction and Summary American voters, who continue to divide their support equally between Al Gore and George W. Bush, have not been strongly influenced by the way the American news media have covered the personal character of the presidential candidates. As the conventions approach there is ample opportunity for the campaigns to make powerful appeals […]
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 […]
Coverage of Issues, Debates Popular … Most Americans say they want news organizations to tell them what the candidates stand for — not what they are like personally. Fully 85% say they want more news coverage of the candidates discussing their positions on issues, while 64% want more coverage of the candidates debating each other. […]
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 […]