Publications

The collapse of the U.S. housing market has not shaken the public’s confidence in the investment value of homeownership.

In a number of surveys over the past several months, the Pew Research Center has shown where the public stands on the budget deficit -- the seriousness of the problem, views of competing policy proposals, and its confidence in the policymakers.

Overview The public has an overwhelmingly negative reaction to the budget negotiations that narrowly avoided a government shutdown. A weekend survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Washington Post finds that “ridiculous” is the word used most frequently to describe the budget negotiations, followed by “disgusting,” “frustrating,” “messy,” […]

The media narrative moved from overseas to the Beltway last week as budget battles trumped press interest in Libyan fighting and Japanese nuclear worries. The question is whether a long run of dominant international news will now give way to ongoing coverage of domestic concerns.

More than 2,000 demographers, sociologists and others converged on Washington, D.C., last week for the Population Association of America’s annual meeting.

Overview As the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War approaches, most Americans say the war between the North and South is still relevant to American politics and public life today. More than half of Americans (56%) say the Civil War is still relevant, according to the latest national survey by the Pew […]

As the Tea Party has evolved from a grass-roots movement to become a major force on Capitol Hill, public views of the Tea Party have grown more negative. Slightly more disagree with the Tea Party than agree with the movement – a reversal in public evaluations from a year ago. The latest national survey by […]

Researchers recently presented some findings that dispute the popular (or academic) wisdom about important aspects of family life and bear upon relevant findings from Pew Research surveys.