Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Reports that the Democratic Party may add support for gay marriage to its party platform are in keeping with a significant shift of opinion on this issue among Democrats nationwide. A new report finds that support for same-sex marriage among Democrats has jumped from 50% in 2008 to 65% today.
If coverage of Obama focused largely on his handling of the economy, the media narrative about Romney was more varied. Romney’s biography generated more press attention than any other subject. The largest of component of this (14% of Romney biographical assertions studied) raised doubts about Romney’s career at the Bain Capital private investment firm. And […]
Overview As next week’s third and final presidential debate on foreign policy approaches, a national survey by the Pew Research Center finds increasing public pessimism about developments in the Middle East and more support for tough policies to deal with Iran’s nuclear program and economic issues with China. However, there is no change in the […]
President Obama’s statement on May 9 that “same-sex couples should be able to get married” garnered significant public and media attention. Reports about Obama’sendorsement of gay marriage accounted for 14% of major news organizations’ coverage over the course of that week, equal to the amount of coverage given to the election contest and nearly double […]
About This Study A number of people at the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism worked on PEJ’s “The Final Days of the Media Campaign 2012.” Director Tom Rosenstiel, Deputy Director Amy Mitchell, Associate Director Mark Jurkowitz and senior researcher Paul Hitlin wrote the report. Paul Hitlin supervised the content analysis components. Additional […]
Voter engagement in this year’s presidential election is lower than in 2008, but on par with, or higher than, levels at a similar point in the previous four election cycles. Two-thirds (67%) of registered voters say they are giving quite a lot of thought to the election. This is down somewhat from 2008 (72%), but […]
The number of political independents has continued to grow, as both parties have lost ground among the public. Based on surveys conducted this year, 38% describe themselves as independents, up from 32% in 2008 and 30% in 2004. The proportion of independents is now higher than at any point in more than two decades. Looking […]