Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Washington, D.C. Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to the U.S. as pontiff comes amid a turbulent election year. He has planned stops at the White House, the U.N. and the Sept. 11 “Ground Zero” site. How should we assess the first three years of Pope Benedict’s papacy? How has the global role and influence of […]
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama attracted more attention from the press than John McCain last week. But the two Democrats were often engaged in serious damage control while the GOP’s candidate was basking in some pretty positive coverage.
Summary of Findings Interest in what the public perceives as an excessively negative presidential campaign declined in the days leading up to the Pennsylvania primary. Just 29% of Americans say they paid very close attention to news about the presidential campaign last week, the lowest percentage recorded since December 2007. By comparison, 43% said they […]
The Landscape Survey details the great diversity of religious affiliation in the U.S. at the beginning of the 21st century. The adult population can be usefully grouped into more than a dozen major religious traditions that, in turn, can be divided into hundreds of distinct religious groups. Overall, nearly eight-in-ten (78.4%) adults report belonging to […]
From Mitt Romney’s December speech on religion in American politics to Barack Obama’s efforts this month to label himself a “committed Christian,” the personal faith of candidates has played a significant role in the 2008 campaign. Pew Forum Senior Fellow John Green answered questions about the history of faith in presidential politics, campaign efforts to […]
Photo Credit: Peter M. Fisher/Corbis With a six-year grant from the John Templeton Foundation, UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute conducted a longitudinal study to assess the spirituality of college students during their undergraduate years. The study finds that while attendance at religious services decreased dramatically for most students between their freshman and junior years, the […]
Change in religious affiliation is not the only factor shaping the contours of the American religious landscape. Important demographic factors such as immigration and generational replacement are also contributing in a major way to this dynamic process. The Landscape Survey finds, for example, that immigrants and young adults are significantly less Protestant than are native-born […]
With several primary contests completed and Super Tuesday fast approaching, Forum Associate Director Mark O’Keefe and Senior Research Fellow John Green discussed the vote of evangelical Christians in the 2008 presidential election. Green and O’Keefe spoke about evangelical voting patterns in the early primaries, evangelical response to Mitt Romney being a Mormon, the changing composition […]