More than one-in-five voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are racial or ethnic minorities.
Data from the past 50 years reveal the upward yet uneven trajectory of black political leadership in America.
When the 116th Congress convenes, women will make up nearly a quarter of both chambers – the highest percentage in U.S. history.
Women are running for Congress in record numbers this year, and most Americans say this is a good thing. But there’s little consensus among the public about how – or whether – things would change if more women were elected. More than four-in-ten Americans say they personally hope a woman will be elected president in their lifetime.
One hundred years after Jeannette Rankin became the first female member of the U.S. Congress, women remain underrepresented in political and business leadership.
Women now make up 20% of Congress, a record high. But women have more representation in most countries' national legislatures.
Almost one-in-five members of the House and Senate are a racial or ethnic minority, making the 114th Congress the most diverse in history. However, Congress remains disproportionately white when compared with the U.S. population, which has grown increasingly diverse in recent decades.
In the last four national elections, generation has mattered more in American elections than it has in decades. This continues to be true as voters look ahead toward the 2012 general election. In a contest between President Obama and Mitt Romney, there is a 20-point gap in support for Obama between Millennials and the over-65 Silent generation.
When the 2010 Census apportionment counts were announced last month, they showed that North Carolina, which scored the last seat in 2000, fell short of winning the 435th or last seat. This time, Minnesota was the winner.
The first numbers from the 2010 Census are the state population totals, the basis of the proportional division of seats in the House of Representatives since the nation's early days. The number of House seats has been fixed at 435 since 1913, but there have been numerous tweaks in the methodology used to divide them up -- and debate continues today.
