Election 2010

Both parties currently are unpopular with the public, but as the GOP showed in 2010, a party with a low favorability rating can still score a sweeping victory in midterm elections.

More than 6.6 million Latinos voted in last year’s election—a record for a midterm. Fueled by their rapid population growth, Latinos also were a larger share of the electorate in 2010 than in any previous midterm election, representing 6.9% of all voters, up from 5.8% in 2006.

Summary of research findings from Pew Internet's 2010 post-election survey.

54% of adults used the internet for political purposes in the 2010 election cycle, far surpassing the 2006 midterm contest.

Republicans catch up to Democrats in social media use for politics as social media became a regular part of the political environment in the 2010 midyear elections

More than a quarter of American adults - 26% - used their cell phones to learn about or participate in the 2010 mid-term election campaign.

The 2010 midterm elections renewed discussions about civil unions and same-sex marriage laws in several states, including Hawaii, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. Hawaii The election of Democrat Neil Abercrombie as governor of Hawaii may make it more likely that a bill legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples could become law in the state, according to […]

The media’s post-election analysis of Republican Rand Paul’s victory in the race for Kentucky’s open U.S. Senate seat has focused heavily on the role of negative advertising, with several news accounts crediting Paul’s election at least in part to a TV ad by his Democratic opponent, Jack Conway, which called Paul’s religious beliefs and policy […]

Public Less Happy Than After 2006 and 1994 Elections

A new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that compared with 2006, fewer voters encountered information on parties or candidates in their house of worship, and only 6% say they were contacted by religious groups about the election campaign.