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    Psychology of Bad Times Fueling Consumer Cutbacks

    Overview Americans continue to render extremely bleak assessments of economic conditions, both with respect to the national economy and their own financial situations. Fully 92% of the public rates the national economy as only fair or poor, and a substantial majority (61%) judges their personal finances that way. Both measures are among the most negative […]

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    Public Not Desperate About Economy or Personal Finances

    Overview Americans are concerned about the nation’s economic problems almost to the exclusion of every other issue, and they register the lowest level of national satisfaction ever measured in a Pew Research Center survey. Just 11% say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country – down 14 points in the […]

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    Middle Class, By the Numbers

    The plight of Middle Americans has been much invoked by candidates from both parties this election year. Who are these folk? Here’s a self-portrait painted in statistics.

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    The financial crisis online

    Online activists and concerned citizens are using the internet to learn about the financial crisis, share their views on the proposed bailout, and organize their friends.

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    A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students

    The number of Hispanic students in the nation’s public schools nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, accounting for 60% of the total growth in public school enrollments over that period.

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    Amid Layoffs and Cutbacks, Communication Grads Find Jobs

    A new University of Georgia survey of recent degree recipients finds that despite the growing economic ills of the media industry, the job market for 2007 graduates was basically unchanged from a year earlier. And sometimes, the absence of bad news can be good news.

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    America’s Four Middle Classes

    There isn’t one American middle class; there are four. Each is different from the others in its attitudes, outlook and financial circumstance—sometimes in ways that defy traditional stereotypes of the middle class.

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    As Gas Prices Pinch, Support for Energy Exploration Rises

    Overview Amid record gas prices, public support for greater energy exploration is spiking. Compared with just a few months ago, many more Americans are giving higher priority to more energy exploration, rather than more conservation. An increasing proportion also says that developing new sources of energy – rather than protecting the environment – is the […]

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    Gas Prices Pump Up Support for Drilling

    Americans are giving higher priority to more energy exploration, rather than more conservation; concern about the environment fades as support for ANWR drilling rises.