Most people (67%) say that their religious beliefs play at least an occasional role in helping them decide what to do in their lives. But far fewer (38%) say religion has the same influence on their voting decisions. Overall, 45% say they frequently find themselves using their religious beliefs to help make choices and decisions […]
Religious Divides on Gay Marriage, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict A poll released today by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press shows that there has been an important shift in public perceptions of Islam. Fully 44 percent of the American public now believes that Islam […]
Muslims surveyed in the Pew Global Attitudes Project favor a prominent – in many cases expanded – role for Islam and religious leaders in the political life of their countries. Yet that opinion does not diminish Muslim support for a system of governance that ensures the same civil liberties and political rights enjoyed by democracies. […]
Introduction and Summary The speed of the war in Iraq and the prevailing belief that the Iraqi people are better off as a result have modestly improved the image of America. But in most countries, opinions of the U.S. are markedly lower than they were a year ago. The war has widened the rift between […]
The U.S. image in Europe, which plummeted in the days leading up to war in Iraq, has improved somewhat since then. But favorable ratings for the U.S., in Europe and elsewhere, remain far below levels measured in 2002 and 2000 Among major U.S. allies in Western Europe, seven-in-ten British and six-in-ten Italians currently say they […]
Free-market economies and the individual freedoms that underlie them are highly favored around the world. Majorities in 33 of 44 countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project believe that people are better off in a free-market economy, even if it leads to disparities in wealth and income. But this global endorsement of capitalism goes […]
Democratization has taken very different paths in the countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. Most Eastern European countries began their transition to democracy with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But 14 years later, many people still do not completely embrace many aspects of democracy, in part because they associate the […]
For more than a decade, globalization has been a deeply divisive topic among social activists, intellectuals, business leaders, policy makers and politicians. But the global public is less divided on the subject. To varying degrees, people almost everywhere like globalization. The 38,000 people surveyed in 44 countries by the Pew Global Attitudes Project report that […]
Remarks of Andrew Kohut to The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing