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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    Support Public Library Book Banning

    That’s the percentage of U.S. adults who completely (30%) or mostly (16%) agree that “books that contain dangerous ideas should be banned from public libraries” — the lowest level of support in 20 years.

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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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    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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    Should Mosques Express Political Views?

    That’s the percentage of Muslim Americans who say that mosques should express their views on day-to-day social and political matters, 49% of U.S. Muslims take the opposite view.

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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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    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.

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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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    (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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    Abortion Middle Ground

    That’s the percentage of American adults who support finding “a middle ground” when it comes to abortion. Three-in-ten Americans believe “there’s no room for compromise when it comes to abortion laws.”