Majority in U.S. Say Israel Has Valid Reasons for Fighting; Fewer Say the Same About Hamas
57% of Americans express some sympathy with both Israelis and Palestinians, including 26% who say their sympathies lie equally with both groups.
A large majority of Americans feel that religion is losing influence in public life, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey.
The new, 116th Congress includes the first two Muslim women ever to serve in the House of Representatives, and is, overall, slightly more religiously diverse than the prior Congress.
The U.S. public expresses a clear consensus on the contentious question of whether employers who have religious objections to contraception should be required to provide it in health insurance plans for their employees.
Half of Americans say the next president should be careful not to criticize Islam as a whole when speaking about Islamic extremists, while four-in-ten want the next president to speak bluntly about Islamic extremists even if the statements are critical of Islam as a whole.
GOP contender Donald Trump is not widely viewed as religious, even among Republicans. And the share of Americans who say Hillary Clinton is not a religious person has risen sharply since she first ran for president eight years ago.
Nearly three-quarters of Americans now think religion is losing influence in American life, and most who say this also see it as a bad thing. Perhaps as a consequence, a growing share of the public wants religion to play a role in U.S. politics.
© 2024 Pew Research Center