Pew Research Center Staff

Two-thirds of the public say keeping oil prices low should be a top priority for the U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

In a survey taken roughly one year after the oil spill in the Gulf, a 57%-majority of Americans favored allowing more oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters, up 13 points from last summer.

Senior research staff answer questions from readers relating to all the areas covered by our seven projects, ranging from polling techniques and findings, to media, technology, religious, demographic and global attitudes trends.

Few Americans know that Medicare is a sizable chunck of the federal government’s budget. Regardless, most oppose changing it to reduce the deficit.

Nearly two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants (64%) say helping to protect Israel should be a very important policy goal for the U.S. in the Middle East, compared with 34% of white mainline Protestants and 36% of white Catholics.

In a poll taken prior to recent Koran-burning-related violence in Afghanistan, the U.S. public divided (40% yes, 42% no) over whether Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence among its believers.

Senior research staff answer questions from readers relating to all the areas covered by our seven projects, ranging from polling techniques and findings, to media, technology, religious, demographic and global attitudes trends.

Sixteen of the top 20 U.S. newspapers lost overall audience -- including online -- in 2010.

Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 91.7% of the nation's population growth over the past decade.

Hispanics now account for 16.3% of the total U.S. population.