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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

    Personal Factors Limit Black Progress

    Two in three Americans believe personal factors, rather than racial discrimination, explain why many African Americans have difficulty getting ahead in life.

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    Gen-Next: The Least Republican Generation

    That’s the proportion of voters ages 18-24 who cast their votes for Democratic candidates in the 2006 mid-term elections — a trend that appears to be continuing in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election.

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    Tempered Optimism about 2008

    Half of Americans say that as far as they are concerned, 2008 will be a better year than 2007, while 34% say it will be worse.

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    Most Important Event of ’07

    A plurality of Americans (23%) cite Iraq as the single most important news event of 2007, but significantly fewer named Iraq as the year’s top event than did so in 2006 (34%).

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    Democrats Enthused about Primaries

    Roughly three-quarters of Democrats (74%) say they are especially looking forward to the 2008 primary elections, the first of which is being held today in New Hampshire; by comparison, only about half of Republicans (49%) share this enthusiasm.

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    Rating Women as Leaders Worldwide

    Among the 47 nations and political entities surveyed in the latest Pew Global Attitudes report, the great majority (40) say that women are as good as or better than men as political leaders.

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    No Campaign Fatigue in Iowa

    “Despite the long-running and intense political contests for their attention, seven-in-ten likely voters in Iowa’s caucuses say they still find the campaign interesting, compared with 57% of likely voters in New Hampshire, 48% in South Carolina and 45% nationally.
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    Hispanic Partisan Split

    Some 57% of Hispanic registered voters now say they are Democrats or lean Democratic while just 23% align with the Republican Party — a 34-percentage-point gap in partisan affiliation.

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    Second-generation Latinos Fluent in English

    Nearly nine-in-ten second generation Latinos in the U.S. say they can carry on a conversation in English very well compared with only 23% of first-generation adult Latinos.

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    Blacks See Job Discrimination as Chronic

    Two-thirds of all African Americans report that discrimination is commonly encountered when blacks apply for a job (67%), a view shared by only 20% of whites and 36% of Hispanics.