Publications

Summary of Findings The shootings at Virginia Tech University overshadowed all other news stories last week – both in terms of coverage and public interest. Fully 45% of Americans paid very close attention to the tragedy and 56% said it was the single news story they followed more closely than any other last week. However, […]

He was a newspaperman and a war correspondent, a prolific author and an insatiably curious sports fan. But above all, David Halberstam—who died at age 73 in a car accident on Monday—was a reporter committed to helping his readers understand the complex world around them. PEJ senior counselor Bill Kovach offers his tribute to his friend, one of the nation’s most distinguished journalists.

36% of online American adults consult Wikipedia

Summary of Findings Last week’s shootings at Virginia Tech have had little immediate impact on public opinion about gun control. Six-in-ten Americans say it is more important to control gun ownership, while 32% say it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns. Opinion has changed little since 2004, when 58% […]

That's the percentage of the public who could name the current vice president, Dick Cheney, in a recent Pew survey; In 1989, 74% of the public were able to identify Dan Quayle as the vice president.

That's the percentage of American adults who oppose making it more difficult for women to obtain abortions -- 35% favor such a move.

That's the percentage of Americans who think young people do not have as strong a sense of right and wrong as they did 50 years ago. While nostalgia for the old days is far from new, this finding is substantially more negative than those recorded decades ago.

That's the percentage of Americans who say they like leaders who are willing to compromise -- but two-thirds also say they like politicians who stick to their positions, even if unpopular.

The Attorney General faced a grilling from Congress, the Supreme Court weighed in on abortion rights, hundreds were slaughtered in a single day in Iraq, and a vicious storm wreaked havoc on the East Coast. But each of those events last week was completely overshadowed by the media’s non-stop coverage of the horrific events that unfolded on the campus of Virginia Tech.