Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

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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.

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  • short reads

    Boomer Gloom

    Fully 80% of Baby Boomers say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country today.

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    Boomers and Social Change

    Members of the Baby Boom generation align more closely with younger generations than with older ones on most social issues.

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    Pocket-Sized Politics

    About a quarter of Americans used their cell phones to learn about or participate in the 2010 midterm election campaign.

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    Pay for Online Content

    Nearly two thirds of internet users have paid to download or access some kind of online content, ranging from music to games to news articles.

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    Filibuster Reform?

    Just a quarter of the public knows that it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate.

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    Wait til Next Year

    While a majority of Americans believe that next year will be better than 2010, there was far more optimism at the beginning of the year.

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    Baby Boomers Retire

    Roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 65 today, and about 10,000 more will cross that threshold every day for the next 19 years.

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    An Optimism Gap

    Only about a third of Americans in a fall survey expected better economic conditions a year hence. By contrast, in the midst of the Great Depression, and with another downturn in the offing, half of Americans still expected general business conditions to improve over the next six months.

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    Are the Bush Tax Cuts Fair?

    In a poll conducted at the very beginning of President George W. Bush’s first term in office, nearly two-thirds of Americans said that if his proposed tax cuts were passed they would benefit some people much more than others.