In recent years, the debate over same-sex marriage has grown from an issue that occasionally arose in a few states to a nationwide controversy. A special report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life describes the various dimensions of the controversy.
Tom Rosentiel
Publications
Two-thirds of online adults have a profile on a social networking site, and most restrict access to friends only. Social network users also are becoming more active in pruning and managing their accounts.
Americans are hearing less negative news about the nation’s economy than they were just a month ago. Perceptions of news about the job situation have improved across partisan lines.
Tests show that if Americans were not required by law to respond to census surveys response rates would drop significantly and the cost of obtaining reliable data would rise considerably.
Heading into Wednesday's first presidential debate, voters expect that Barack Obama will do a better job than Mitt Romney. About half (51%) say Obama will do the better job in the debate, while 29% say Romney will. Most voters plan to watch
Young voters are significantly less engaged in this year’s election than at a comparable point in 2008 and now lag far behind older voters in interest in the campaign and intention to vote.
There are signs that television news -- like the print news sources before it -- may be losing its hold on the next generation of news consumers. Online and digital news consumption continues to increase, driven by expanding use of mobile devices and the rise of social networking sites.
Urban residents are more likely to use mobile and online sources, suburbanites are most heavily into social media, and rural residents are more inclined to word of mouth sources.
Student debt has increased in nearly every demographic and economic category since 2007, as has the size of that debt. The burden of student debt is greatest for the young and the poor.
Nearly half (46%) say the coverage of Romney and Obama has been fair. Among those who see a bias, as many say the press has been too easy on Romney (20%) as too tough on him (21%), while nearly twice as many say press coverage of the president has been too easy (28%) than too tough (15%).
