Americans’ Views of Government’s Role: Persistent Divisions and Areas of Agreement
Most Biden supporters favor a bigger government with a strong social safety net. Trump backers generally take the opposing view.
Much of the data in this essay is drawn from the Religious Landscape Study (RLS). We also draw upon data collected from surveys conducted on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP) and data from the General Social Survey (GSS). We walk through the details of these data sources below. We also discuss how we […]
Americans are somewhat more likely to disapprove than approve of the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war: 41% of U.S. adults disapprove, 35% approve and about a quarter (24%) say they are not sure. However, these views vary substantially by age, partisanship and the degree to which people are following news about the war. […]
About seven-in-ten voters say if Harris loses the 2024 election she will accept the results and concede, while roughly a quarter say Trump will do this if he loses. And a majority of voters say the threat of violence against political leaders and their families is a major problem in the country.
In many ways, Americans’ emotions toward politics today are as negative as their evaluations of the country’s political system. Majorities say they always or often feel exhausted (65%) and angry (55%) when thinking about politics these days, while relatively few report feeling hopeful (10%) or excited (4%) with this much frequency. Despite the public’s weariness […]