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

    Rich-Poor Gap

    A 28-point divide separates Democrats and Republicans on the question of losing ground with respect to the gap between rich and poor.

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    Candidate to President

    The most frequently used one-word descriptor of President Obama is intelligent.

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    The Dark Side

    A small majority says torture is rarely or never justified.

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    St. Patrick’s Day Drinking?

    St. Patrick's DayAs many head to the bars for St. Patrick’s Day, not everyone will be celebrating; more than six-in-ten Americans think drinking alcohol excessively is morally wrong.

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    Obama’s Hispanic Outreach

    Among Hispanics contacted by a campaign in 2008, 59% were contacted by the Obama campaign.

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    An Inconvenient Truth

    The percentage of Americans calling environmental protection a top priority this year declined by 15 percentage points from last January.

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    Staying Put

    Most adults (57%) have not lived outside their current home state in the U.S.

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    Social Segregation

    While most Americans say they have friends of a different race, pluralities of whites, blacks and Hispanics say they only have a few.

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    Elderly Observant Catholics

    Many of the Catholics who will be visiting their churches today, Ash Wednesday, to have their foreheads marked with ashen crosses, will be over age 65, a reflection of the fact that older Catholics are considerably more likely than their younger co-religionists to say they attend worship services regularly.