Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Political Issues

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    Little International Support for Arming Syria Rebels

    Growing evidence that the Syrian government may have used chemical weapons against its own people has led to demands for the U.S. to intervene in the Syrian civil war. As American pundits and politicians call for intervention, however merited or unjustified those appeals may be on humanitarian grounds, such pleas have yet to rally majority support for such action in America, Europe or the Middle East.

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    Division, Uncertainty over New Immigration Bill

    Overview As Congress debates a bill to overhaul the nation’s immigration policy, much of the public has yet to form an opinion about the legislation. About as many say they favor (33%) as oppose (28%) the immigration bill before Congress, but fully 38% say they don’t know what they think of the legislation. At this […]

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    Widespread Middle East Fears that Syrian Violence Will Spread

    Survey Report As concern mounts about the Syrian government’s possible use of chemical weapons against its own people, publics in the Middle East – especially the Lebanese – are extremely worried about violence spreading to neighboring countries. Nonetheless, a new survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted before news emerged of alleged use of chemical […]

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    The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society

    A new survey report looks at attitudes among Muslims in 39 countries on a wide range of topics, from science to sharia, polygamy to popular culture. The survey finds that overwhelming percentages of Muslims in many countries want Islamic law to be the official law of their land, but there is also widespread support for democracy and religious freedom.

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    TEDx: Religious Freedom by the Numbers

    Senior Researcher Brian J. Grim talks about the Pew Research Center’s restrictions on religion studies at the April 2013 TEDx ViaDellaConciliazione conference at the Vatican. https://www.youtube.com/embed/cQvDUTOOkiI Related Resources: Slides Arab Spring Adds to Global Restrictions on Religion TEDx ViaDellaConciliazione website TEDxViaDellaConciliazione Youtube page

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    Modest Support for Military Force if Syria Used Chemical Weapons

    Overview By a 45% to 31% margin, more Americans favor than oppose the U.S. and its allies taking military action against Syria, if it is confirmed that Syria used chemical weapons against anti-government groups. Public interest in the Syrian conflict remains low, and nearly a quarter of Americans (23%) have no opinion about the use […]

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    About the Survey

    The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted April 25-28, 2013 among a national sample of 1,003 adults 18 years of age or older living in the continental United States (500 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 503 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 237 who had no landline […]

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    U.S. Image Rebounds in Mexico

    Survey Report On the eve of President Barack Obama’s visit to Mexico, the United States is enjoying a resurgence of good will among the Mexican public, with a clear majority favorably inclined toward their northern neighbor and more now expressing confidence in Obama. A national opinion survey of Mexico by the Pew Research Center, conducted […]

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    Political Blame for Flight Delays Spread Evenly

    Overview As Washington sprang into action late last week to end the furlough of federal air-traffic controllers and delays at airports across the country, the public blamed both sides for the situation. Nearly equal percentages say congressional Republicans (34%) and the Obama administration (32%) are more to blame for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) budget […]