Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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In a week that marked the fourth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein and the end of the Duke lacrosse scandal, the remarks of a cable and radio talk show host dominated the news media. The fall of Don Imus had just the mix of ingredients that tend to seize the media imagination.
More than nine-in-ten Hispanics identify with a specific religion. That, along with several other measures of belief and behavior, means that Hispanics as a group are highly religious. How does this affinity for spirituality vary among Latinos with different demographic characteristics or religious affiliations? And how precisely do the religious beliefs of Latinos set them […]
Summary of Findings Public support for the war in Iraq continues to decline, as a growing number of political independents are turning against the war. Overall, a 53% majority of Americans believe the U.S. should bring its troops home as soon as possible – up five points in the past month and the highest percentage […]
Even in a week with North Korea, Iran, Anna Nicole, and Hillary on the front burner, it’s U.S. strategy in the Iraq war that commands the talk airwaves. And the dominance of that debate reveals something about the nature of the talk show culture.
The nation’s radio and cable talk shows can’t resist talking about the blockbuster hot button issues like Iraq and the presidential campaign. But on subjects ranging from global warming and tensions with Iran to the Scooter Libby trial and the death of Molly Ivins, the talk conversation is very much shaped by the hosts’ own agendas.
Remarks of Andrew Kohut to the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight
The cable talkers didn’t have much to say about the State of the Union address, and the liberal hosts didn’t weigh in on Clinton’s presidential bid. But war and politics still managed to dominate the talk show agenda last week—even more so than the overall news coverage.
Summary of Findings With battle lines drawn over legislation funding the Iraq war, the public is showing little appetite for compromise. Overall, a solid majority of Americans (59%) continue to say they want their representative to support a bill calling for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq by August 2008, while just a third want […]