Short Reads

Short-form data and analysis from Pew Research Center writers and social scientists. To view all our reports and publications, visit our main Publications page.

short readApr 16, 2026

Photo: White House Faith Office Senior Adviser Paula White-Cain sings next to President Donald Trump during a National Day of Prayer event at the White House, attended by religious leaders of different faiths, on May 1, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Among Trump’s strongest supporters, relatively few people say they think he is very religious. Just 8% of Republicans and 5% of White evangelicals say this is the case.

short readApr 21, 2026

short readApr 15, 2026

Virginia voters cast their ballots at Robious Elementary School on Nov. 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

short readApr 13, 2026

Construction continues at a new Meta data center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, on March 31. (Joe Timmerman/Wisconsin Watch via Getty Images)

short readsJul 9, 2014

Americans, especially young adults, back strong economic ties with China

About half of Americans (51%) say it is more important to build a stronger relationship with China on economic issues, while 41% say it is more important to get tougher with China.
short readsJul 9, 2014

The politics of American generations: How age affects attitudes and voting behavior

Among U.S. adults, different age cohorts have markedly different political profiles, but the relationship is considerably more complex than young people leaning liberal and older people being more conservative.
short readsJul 8, 2014

Public libraries and the quiz-takers who love them

The Pew Research Center recently released a library user quiz sorting Americans into different typologies based on how they use and view libraries. Here are the results.
short readsJul 8, 2014

CDC: Two of every five U.S. households have only wireless phones

Two of every five U.S. households have no landline phones, but the growth rate of cord-cutting slowed last year.
short readsJul 7, 2014

What is a ‘closely held corporation,’ anyway, and how many are there?

The Supreme Court’s long-awaited decision in the Hobby Lobby case says “closely held” corporations can have religious rights that need to be respected. What was it talking about?
short readsJul 7, 2014

For gay newlyweds in some states, ‘limbo’ may last another year

It has happened in four states so far, and may well happen in others – a kind of marital limbo where licenses have been granted and vows exchanged, but the marriages themselves have not been officially recognized.
short readsJul 7, 2014

1-in-10 Americans don’t give a hoot about politics

As Republicans and Democrats gear up for midterm elections this November, there’s one group of Americans – that we call political Bystanders – that is paying very little, if any, attention to the whole ordeal.
short readsJul 3, 2014

Chart of the Week: How the Supreme Court justices line up

Supreme Court justices vote together more often than they don’t, but some of that agreement may be surface-only.
short readsJul 2, 2014

The Hobby Lobby impact: A Q&A

The U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing for-profit businesses to opt out of the contraceptive mandate in the new health care law has raised questions about what the ruling might mean for businesses, for future challenges to the contraception mandate, and even for the future of church-state law. We posed these questions to Robert Tuttle, one of the nation’s experts on church-state issues. He is the Berz Research Professor of Law and Religion at the George Washington University.
short readsJul 2, 2014

Most Americans think the U.S. is great, but fewer say it’s the greatest

As Americans prepare to celebrate July 4th, 58% consider the U.S. to be one of the greatest countries in the world, but that number has declined 10 points since 2011.