Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
An overwhelming majority of voters (88%) report having seen or heard commercials for candidates running for office so far this year. This is comparable to the 89% of voters who said they had seen or heard campaign commercials at roughly the same point in the 2006 midterm cycle. Today, more than half of voters (56%) […]
Overview Many Americans say they will look less favorably this fall at congressional candidates who supported the federal bailout of major banks and financial institutions in response to the 2008 financial crisis. About half (49%) say they are less likely to vote for a candidate who supported the major government loans to banks; 14% say […]
By roughly three-to-one (71%-23%), most Americans approve of Obama’s decision to sign an arms control treaty with Russia, reducing the number of nuclear weapons in both countries. A somewhat smaller majority (64%) also approves of Obama’s recent declaration that the U.S. will not use nuclear weapons against countries that do not possess them; 30% disapprove […]
Among registered voters, 34% call themselves Democrats, and 28% Republicans. With virtually all partisans voting for their party’s candidates, and independent registered voters divided, the overall race is about even (47% of registered voters favor Democrats, while 44% favor Republicans). But when the sample is narrowed to likely voters, two things happen. First, high engagement […]
Independents are often described as a cohesive bloc of voters, whose views consistently fall midway between those of Republicans and Democrats. Yet a closer look at independents finds a substantial degree of diversity among these voters – demographic, ideological and in their attitudes and opinions. In this survey, we identify four main groups of independent […]
Summary of Findings About two-thirds of the public sees coverage of this year’s elections as focused primarily on strategy and conflict rather than candidate positions, while a comparable percentage says the 2010 congressional elections are more important than most. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say news coverage of politics makes them angry. Still, few (36%) say election […]
Overview The public continues to express conflicted views of Islam. Favorable opinions of Islam have declined since 2005, but there has been virtually no change over the past year in the proportion of Americans saying that Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence. As was the case a year ago, slightly more […]
All year, voters’ preferences in the upcoming midterm elections have been closely divided. That remains the case today – in the new survey, 47% of registered voters say that if the election were held today they would vote for the Democratic candidate or lean to the Democrat, while 44% would vote for the Republican or […]