Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
Summary of Findings Americans continued to closely track news about the struggling economy and the spread of the swine flu last week, though the media devoted the largest share of coverage to the sharp debate in Washington over how best to protect the nation from terrorism. About a quarter of the public (24%) says they […]
Overview With the economy wreaking havoc on state budgets, the favorability ratings of state governments have declined from a year ago. Overall, 50% of the public now holds a favorable opinion of their state government, down from 59% in April 2008. The falloff in positive views has been greater in states with large and moderate […]