Barack Obama

Overview Centrism has emerged as a dominant factor in public opinion as the Obama era begins. The political values and core attitudes that the Pew Research Center has monitored since 1987 show little overall ideological movement. Republicans and Democrats are even more divided than in the past, while the growing political middle is steadfastly mixed […]

A quarter of Obama voters who use the internet posted political material online.

Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in May 2009 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Ever since then-Sen. Barack Obama spoke of his admiration for Reinhold Niebuhr in a 2007 interview with New York Times columnist David Brooks, there has been speculation […]

Most Americans say the news media has devoted too much coverage to Barack Obama's family and personal life, but the right amount to his leadership style and policy proposals.

How have the news media covered the early days of the Obama presidency? How does that coverage stack up against that of his predecessors? A new study examines the tone and focus of Obama’s media narrative and how compares it to Bill Clinton’s and George Bush’s.

Overview As he approaches the 100-day mark of his presidency, Barack Obama’s job approval ratings are higher than those of his most recent predecessors. However, the 44th president is even more distinguished by his strong personal popularity. Fully 73% of Americans – including as many as 46% of Republicans – hold a favorable view of […]

A close look at reactions to Reagan's first few months in office provides striking parallels with what polls now find about opinions of Obama. And a consideration of the Reagan experience may well give some clues as to what lies ahead for the 44th president.

Overview Shortly before President Obama took office in January, the public was uncharacteristically optimistic that Republicans and Democrats would work together more to solve problems in the year ahead. Less than three months later, those expectations have faded and most see a return to partisan politics in Washington. A majority (53%) currently says that Republicans […]

For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades.