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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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Stockton, Alabama, USA - April 22, 2023: Montpelier Methodist Church is pictured in Baldwin County Bicentennial Park in Stockton, Alabama. The church was built in 1895.

How religion declines around the world

Religion in a country tends to decline in three transitional stages that unfold across generations, a new paper using Center data proposes.

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    Support the Death Penalty

    That’s the number of Americans who support the death penalty for persons convicted of murder, somewhat fewer than in the late 1990s, but little changed since 2001.

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    Americans Living Comfortably

    That’s the number of adults in this country who say they are living comfortably; another three-in-ten (28%) say they have enough money to meet expenses with a little left over for extras.

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    Think Government Is Wasteful

    That’s the percentage of Americans who agree that “when something is run by the government, it is usually inefficient and wasteful.”

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    Average Latino Wages

    That’s the median weekly earnings of Latino workers in the second quarter of 2006 — up from $423 in the second quarter of 2005.

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    Religious Influence on Latino Politics

    Two-in-three Latinos living in the U.S. say that their religious beliefs are a very important or a somewhat important influence on their political thinking, and among Hispanic evangelicals, more than eight-in-ten (86%) feel this way.

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    (Relative) Kudos for Today’s Dads

    About one-in-five among the public say that today’s fathers are doing a better job compared with fathers a generation ago; far fewer (9%) say that today’s mothers are doing a better job than their predecessors.

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    See Rich-Poor Gap Increasing

    That’s the number of Americans who agree that “the rich just get richer while the poor get poorer” — an 8-point increase since 2002.

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    Have a Favorite Journalist or News Person

    That’s the percentage of Americans who can name a favorite journalist or news person; in 1985, 65% of Americans could identify a favorite.

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    Super Busy Young Americans

    That’s the portion of Gen Next Americans (ages 18-25) who say they are both going to school and working either part-time or full-time.

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    Campaign Watchers on the Net

    That’s the percentage of U.S. adults who used the internet during the 2006 midterm election campaigns to get political news and information and to discuss the races through email. And the number of Americans using the internet as their main source of political material doubled since the last mid-term election, rivaling the number from the 2004 presidential election year.