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  • short reads

    The Hobby Lobby impact: A Q&A

    The U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing for-profit businesses to opt out of the contraceptive mandate in the new health care law has raised questions about what the ruling might mean for businesses, for future challenges to the contraception mandate, and even for the future of church-state law. We posed these questions to Robert Tuttle, one of the nation’s experts on church-state issues. He is the Berz Research Professor of Law and Religion at the George Washington University.

  • short reads

    Why the typology quiz questions are asked the way they are

    One of the strongest reactions we have received from some quiz-takers is frustration over the either-or choices each question offers. This is a legitimate concern, but there is a reason the questions are asked the way they are: The intent is not to put people “in a box” but rather to understand how their values across multiple political dimensions are related to each other.

  • report

    Mounting Pessimism about Two-State Israeli-Palestinian Solution

    In the wake of yet another breakdown in the Middle East peace process, publics in the region have little faith that a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully with each other. Majorities or pluralities in countries across the region voice the view that peaceful coexistence is not […]

  • short reads
    White House press secretaries

    7 facts about White House press secretaries

    When Joshua Earnest formally succeeds the departing Jay Carney as President Barack Obama’s chief liaison with the media, he will become the 30th presidential press secretary since the post was created 85 years ago. Here’s a look at others who held the job.

  • report

    Iraq’s Unique Place in the Sunni-Shia Divide

    An ongoing and intensifying conflict has fallen along sectarian lines in Iraq, one of only a handful of countries that has more Shia Muslims than Sunnis. A Fact Tank post analyzes the divide between the two sects.

  • short reads

    For World Refugee Day, 5 long-term refugee trends

    Despite the ongoing conflicts in these countries, the number of refugees around the world is considerably less than it was two decades ago, numbering between 10 million and 12 million in recent years.

  • short reads

    Why timely, reliable data on mass killings is hard to find

    Several government agencies and nonprofit groups gather and publish data on school shootings and other public mass killings. But because of data lags and differing definitions, getting a clear read on overall trends is surprisingly hard.

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Signature Reports

report

Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology

Our typology sorts the public into nine groups based on their political and cultural values, not their party – painting a picture of American politics with far more than two colors.

quiz

Political Typology 2026

Take our quiz to find out which one of our nine political typology groups is your best match.

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