Overview A clear majority of Americans (57%) favors allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into legal agreements with each other that would give them many of the same rights as married couples, a status commonly known as civil unions. This finding marks a slight uptick in support for civil unions and appears to continue […]
More than eight years after former President George W. Bush unveiled his faith-based initiative to make it easier for religious groups to receive government funding to provide social services, the policy continues to draw broad public support. But as was the case when Bush first announced the initiative, many Americans express concerns about blurring the […]
Americans continue to rate national economic conditions and their own personal financial situation quite negatively, but many still say they expect things to improve in the next year. Jobs remain at the top of people’s economic concerns and are largely seen as difficult to find. In the midst of these rather bleak ratings, much of […]
Just months after the nation’s first African American president took the oath of office, many Americans see a society making progress in its dealings with race. Still, deep racial and political divisions remain in assessments of the gravity of the problems and how best to address them. And in most cases, attitudes have not changed […]
Overview The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans’ views of media bias and independence now match previous lows. Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news […]
Summary of Findings Americans who have learned at least a little about Judge Sonia Sotomayor are more likely to offer traits or aspects they like about President Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee than things they do not like about the federal appellate court judge from New York. Asked if there was anything they have learned […]
Opinion of the U.N. has grown more positive since 2007 in many countries, and nowhere have favorable ratings improved as much as in the U.S.
The public continues to express widespread support, in principle, for protecting the environment. Overall, a large majority (83%) agrees that stricter laws and regulations to protect the environment are needed, a view that has changed little over the past decade. But there have been substantial declines in the proportions of Americans who view environmental protection […]