Short Reads

Four years ago, 56% of the public watched at least some of the GOP convention and 46% watched at least some of the Democratic gathering.

About four-in-ten (43%) of Asian-Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, double that of the general public.

More than nine-in-ten (92%) Chinese believe their standard of living is better than it was for their parents at the same age.

Just 33% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the federal government, the lowest positive rating in 15 years.

A majority of U.S. Muslims (57%) say Islam can be understood in more than one way; globally, views among Muslims trend in the opposite direction.

Among the nation’s 10 largest metro areas, Houston has the highest score – 61 out of 200 -- on an index used to measure residential segregation by income.

Two-thirds of publics across 16 countries surveyed say they like American music, movies and television, an increase of six percentage points since 2007.

There is a 35 point gap between Republicans who believe that government regulation of business usually does more harm than good and the number of Democrats who share that view.

Nearly four-in-ten (38%) of social networking site users have discovered through their friends’ postings that their political beliefs were different than they thought

When it comes to American views on government and social values, the average partisan gap has nearly doubled over the last 25 years -- from 10 percentage points in 1987 to 18 percentage points.