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Drew DeSilver

Senior Writer/Editor

Drew DeSilver is a senior writer at Pew Research Center.

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  • short reads

    Partisan polarization, in Congress and among public, is greater than ever

    While the Senate appears to have reached a deal on executive-branch appointments that heads off a showdown over filibuster rules, the fact that the confrontation went as far as it did points up the increasingly polarized state of Congress. From immigration reform to food stamps to student loans, it almost seems as if congressional Republicans and Democrats inhabit […]

  • short reads

    Filibusters: Hot topic in D.C., obscure or mysterious elsewhere

    From the fervid coverage in the national press, replete with terms like “nuclear option,” “meltdown” and “showdown,” you might think the country is riveted to the clash between Senate Democrats and Republicans over filibuster rules. But with the two sides set to gather tonight in the ceremonial Old Senate Chamber in a last-ditch effort at […]

  • short reads

    Chart of the Week: The wide world of bribery

    Every year, Transparency International asks people around the world about their experiences with public corruption — more than 114,000 in 107 countries for their latest “Global Corruption Barometer.” The map below depicts the percentage of people in each of the surveyed countries who reported paying a bribe sometime in the past 12 months to any […]

  • short reads

    Partner? Rival? For many in U.S., China is both

    More than half of Americans say it’s very important to be “tough” with China on economic and trade issues — about as many who say “building a strong relationship” with China is very important.

  • short reads

    New capital rules require U.S. banks to fatten their wallets

    Banks are going to have to hold more capital as a cushion against losses, under new rules adopted today by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Federal Reserve Board, which developed the rules jointly with the other banking regulators, approved them last week. The new capital rules, intended […]

  • short reads

    Averages, medians and unemployment: Parsing the numbers

    Every month when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its jobs report, people home in on one particular metric: the unemployment rate. But there are a lot of other interesting and potentially significant data in the report, though interpreting them appropriately can be tricky. Take, for example, the duration of unemployment. There’s little doubt that more […]

  • short reads

    As it turns 6, a look at who uses the iPhone (no, not ’everybody’)

    As Apple’s iPhone celebrates its sixth(!) birthday today, the pioneering smartphone has carved out a solid market position, and a demographically distinctive user base, within the ever-expanding world of smartphones (which, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, more than half of Americans now own). The iPhone is, along with Google’s Android, […]

  • short reads

    Chart of the Week: Supreme Court justices — who agrees with whom?

    It’s one thing to talk about voting blocs on the Supreme Court — four conservative justices, four moderate-to-liberal ones and Anthony Kennedy in between, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. It’s another to see the actual voting patterns at work.