Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
In October 2007, the state of Illinois passed a law requiring its public schools to lead students each morning in a moment of silence for “reflection and student prayer.” Illinois already had a law on the books permitting schools to lead such moments of silence. But the Illinois General Assembly, overriding Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s veto, […]
Summary of Findings Two weeks before his first visit to the United States as spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI continues to be viewed favorably by a majority (52%) of Americans, which is virtually unchanged from August 2007 (50%). However, the pope remains unfamiliar to a relatively large number of Americans: Three-in-ten […]
While Sen. John McCain clinched the GOP nomination with recent victories in the March 4 primaries, the Democratic contest between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama remains deadlocked. Pew Forum Senior Fellow John Green discusses how the candidates fared among religious voters on March 4, the role that religious and unaffiliated voters could play […]
Catholics generally mirror the general population when it comes to basic measures of religious commitment (e.g., church attendance, importance of religion and frequency of prayer). But there are major differences among Catholics when it comes to the practice of their faith. Results from a summer 2007 poll by the Pew Forum and the Pew Research […]
Key West, Florida A voter at a New Hampshire polling station. Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in May 2008 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. William A. Galston, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and an assistant for domestic policy […]
In the last official week of the long and grueling Democratic nomination battle, Barack Obama captured his party’s top prize. But it was Hillary Clinton—by providing most of the week’s suspense and drama—who proved she could still dominate the story line in defeat.
The Pennsylvania primary looms large in the tight contest for the Democratic nomination. In an interview with Pew Forum Associate Director Mark O’Keefe, Senior Fellow John Green explains why the connections that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama make – or fail to make – with the state’s religious voters could have major consequences on April […]
As Pope Benedict XVI prepares to introduce himself to the U.S., a new Pew Forum survey shows that many Americans know very little about him. Pew Forum Director Luis Lugo and Associate Director Mark O’Keefe discuss the survey results in the context of previous findings and compare the favorability ratings of Pope Benedict XVI with […]
For some, there is an inherent conflict between science and religious belief. Indeed, some scientists, including famed evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, argue that an understanding of the natural world logically leads to atheism. But for Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project and an evangelical Christian, scientific knowledge complements rather than contradicts belief in […]
If both Obama and Clinton enjoyed success in controlling the master narratives about their campaigns, and McCain less so, how did the public respond? How closely did public opinion about the candidates match up with the major media narratives about the campaigns? And which candidates fared best? To find out, the Pew Research Center for […]