Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Introduction Cell phones have become a staple for many Americans, with 78% of adults now having one, up from 21% in 1996. With many cell phone allowing users to have free or low-cost upgrades of phones every 24 months, decisions on new cell phone purchases periodically face users. In this survey, 39% of adults said […]
Summary of Findings Interest in what the public perceives as an excessively negative presidential campaign declined in the days leading up to the Pennsylvania primary. Just 29% of Americans say they paid very close attention to news about the presidential campaign last week, the lowest percentage recorded since December 2007. By comparison, 43% said they […]
Summary of Findings The financial crisis facing news organizations is so grave that it is now overshadowing concerns about the quality of news coverage, the flagging credibility of the news media, and other problems that have been very much on the minds of journalists over the past decade. An ever larger majority of journalists at […]
Buying goods and services is at once simpler and more demanding in the digital age. A few years ago, the act of buying something usually meant going to a store and seeing whether what you wanted was available or whether a close substitute would suffice. Perhaps a customer came to the store armed with information […]
Jeremiah Wright’s media tour drove the campaign narrative last week, generating intense speculation about his motives and the impact on Barack Obama’s candidacy. In an election noted for coverage of gaffes and controversy, no story line has had as much staying power as the minister and the candidate.
Summary of Findings An overwhelming majority of Americans (81%) are aware of news reports that John McCain may have had an improper relationship with a female lobbyist several years ago. About half (48%) of the public has heard a lot about this story, which first appeared in the New York Times late last week. Another […]
Summary of Findings Hillary Clinton’s retraction of her claim that she came under sniper fire while visiting Bosnia in 1996 was one of the main campaign storylines last week. But the controversy over her statements did not resonate as widely as the furor over statements made by Barack Obama’s pastor earlier in March. Roughly four-in-ten […]
With so much focus on government and political figures, the next obvious question is which ones? Are some people—or some political parties—considered better targets for ridicule than others? The short answer, according to these measurements, is that in 2007 the light shone brighter on Republicans. They were more often the targets of Stewart’s humor. In […]
The key media narrative last week involved growing pressure on Hillary Clinton to withdraw from the primary fight. Meanwhile, Barack Obama tried his hand at hands-on campaigning while John McCain hoped to grab the media’s attention with a tour of some old stomping grounds.