Short Reads

The most ideological members of Congress shared news stories on their Facebook pages more than twice as often as moderate legislators between Jan. 2, 2015, and July 20, 2017, according to a new Pew Research Center study that examined all official Facebook posts created by members of Congress in this period. The analysis included links […]

Most of the United States’ 20 largest immigrant groups experienced increases in naturalization rates between 2005 and 2015, with India and Ecuador posting the biggest increases among origin countries.

When Americans are asked why more students don’t pursue a degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM), they are most likely to point to the difficulty of these subjects, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. About half of adults (52%) say the main reason young people don’t pursue STEM degrees is they think these subjects are too hard.

While there are many reasons that Americans get science news, the most common driver of attention to science news is curiosity, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center study. But people are also motivated to seek out science news for different reasons depending on the issues they care about most, with the environment being a prime example.

Across 37 countries surveyed in the spring of 2017, a median of 48% say they closely follow news about the U.S., compared with 50% who do not. Interest in news about the U.S. is highest in Canada, where 78% say they track it closely. Next highest is the Netherlands (75%), followed by some of America’s closest allies: Japan, Germany and Australia. Across 10 European nations, a median of 51% say they follow news about America closely.

On a typical weekday, three-quarters of U.S. Latinos get their news from internet sources, nearly equal to the share who do so from television, according to a 2016 survey of Latino adults by Pew Research Center.

The public unrest that swept across Iran starting in late December began as a protest against poor economic conditions, but it quickly turned into a call for an end to the country’s theocratic regime.

Blacks who work in science, technology, engineering and math fields are more likely than STEM workers from other racial or ethnic backgrounds to say they have faced discrimination on the job. They also stand out in their views about workplace diversity.

U.S. fathers today are spending more time caring for their children than they did a half-century ago. Moms, by comparison, still do more of the child care and are more likely than dads to say they are satisfied with the amount of time they spend with their kids.

Just 50% of U.S. adults now get news regularly from television, down from 57% a year prior in early 2016.