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

    Economy Tops Terrorism as a Voting Issue

    87% of registered voters now say the economy will be “very important” to their vote compared with a still high 72% of who say terrorism is a top issue for them.

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    Wiz Kids

    Younger voters are significantly more knowledgeable this election.

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    Political Heat

    Energy policy is a very important issue for 77% of voters.

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    Better Off Now Than 5 Years Ago

    Only about four-in-ten U.S. adults now say they are better off today than they were five years ago — the most downbeat assessment of personal progress in more than four decades of polling on this question.

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    Strongly for Obama

    Fully 58% of Obama backers say they support Obama strongly; by comparison 39% of McCain’s backers describe themselves as strong supporters.

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    Few Chinese Aware of Product Recalls

    Despite several high-profile consumer product recalls in China recently, hardly any (1%) among the Chinese public say they have heard a lot about them.

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    Si Se Puede

    Hispanics support Obama over McCain by three-to-one.