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J. Baxter Oliphant

Senior Researcher

Expertise:U.S. Politics and Policy

Baxter Oliphant is a senior researcher at Pew Research Center, where he focuses on U.S. politics and policy research including partisan polarization, trust in government, gun policy and U.S. foreign policy. He received doctoral and master’s degrees in politics from Princeton University and holds a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. His dissertation explored the impact of moral judgments on U.S. presidential elections. Before graduate school, he worked in political polling for campaigns and industry groups. Oliphant is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the American Political Science Association.

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short readsFeb 7, 2019

More Republicans say stricter environmental regulations are ‘worth the cost’

Since 2017, the share of Republicans who take a positive view of stricter environmental laws has increased, from 36% then to 45% today.
short readsNov 20, 2018

Most say their family is OK with discussing politics – but it helps if the family agrees

Many Americans say their family is OK with talking about politics when they gather, and a majority has at least some common ground politically with family.
short readsOct 5, 2018

After 17 years of war in Afghanistan, more say U.S. has failed than succeeded in achieving its goals

About half of U.S. adults say the country’s mission in Afghanistan has mostly failed in achieving its goals, while about a third say it has mostly succeeded.
short readsSep 28, 2018

10 years after the financial crisis, Americans are divided on security of U.S. economic system

The U.S. public is about evenly split on whether the U.S. economic system is more secure today than it was before the financial crisis. Republicans are now more likely to view the system as more secure.
short readsJun 11, 2018

Public support for the death penalty ticks up

Public support for the death penalty, which reached a four-decade low in 2016, has increased somewhat since then. Since 2016, opinions among Republicans and Democrats have changed little, but the share of independents favoring the death penalty has increased 8 percentage points.
short readsMar 19, 2018

The Iraq War continues to divide the U.S. public, 15 years after it began

Fifteen years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the American public is divided over whether using military force was the right decision.
short readsDec 7, 2017

Women and men in both parties say sexual harassment allegations reflect ‘widespread problems in society’

Overall, two-thirds of Americans say recent reports of sexual harassment and assault reflect widespread problems in society.
short readsNov 15, 2017

Prescription drug abuse increasingly seen as a major U.S. public health problem

Americans’ concerns about prescription drug abuse have risen over the past four years, with some of largest increases coming among well-educated adults.
short readsOct 12, 2017

Supporters of stricter gun laws are less likely to contact elected officials

About one-in-five U.S. gun owners say they have ever contacted a public official to express their opinion on gun policy, compared with 12% of non-gun owners.
short readsSep 28, 2017

Views about whether whites benefit from societal advantages split sharply along racial and partisan lines

Issues of race have long divided Americans along racial and partisan lines, and these differences extend to views of whether white people in the U.S. benefit from advantages in society that black people do not have. A majority of Americans (56%) say that white people either benefit “a great deal” (26%) or “a fair amount” […]