Leaders

By Erin Carriere-Kretschmer, Senior Research Associate, Pew Global Attitudes Project On his first trip overseas, U.S. President Barack Obama intends to tackle the current global economic downturn and NATO commitments in Afghanistan, with stops in Britain, France, Germany, Czech Republic and Turkey. Public opinion polls suggest Obama may have reason to expect a mostly warm […]

Overview President Barack Obama’s approval rating has slipped, as a growing number of Americans see him listening more to his party’s liberals than to its moderates and many voice opposition to some of his key economic proposals. Obama’s job approval rating has slipped from 64% in February to 59% currently, while disapproval has jumped from […]

Will Americans listen only to Happy Talk from a president? Here's what the record shows.

Venezuelan President’s Popularity Has Declined in Latin America

Overview After weeks of intense debate over President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, a narrow majority of Americans (51%) who have heard about the $800 billion plan say it is a good idea, while 34% say it is a bad idea. In January, the balance of opinion regarding the plan was more positive: 57% of those […]

One-word descriptions of President Obama have changed dramatically since he was a candidate.

by Richard Wike, Associate Director, Pew Global Attitudes Project, and Michael Remez, Senior Writer, Pew Research Center for the People & the Press The celebratory tone that characterized international media coverage of Barack Obama’s historic election victory was again pervasive in many of the stories about his inauguration as the 44th American president. “History was […]

Yesterday's inauguration was the first to be fully digitized, annotated and archived online.

Summary of Findings Public awareness of Barack Obama’s choices for cabinet and other high level posts is substantially higher than awareness of the top picks by George W. Bush and Bill Clinton just before they were first inaugurated. About two-thirds of Americans (65%) can name at least one person that Obama has chosen for a […]

A year and a half after a lengthy, often rancorous debate over immigration reform filled the chambers of a stalemated Congress, the issue appears to have receded in importance among one of the groups most affected by it--Latinos.