Immigration continues to loom as a major issue in 2015, following President Obama's executive actions last year expanding the number of undocumented immigrants permitted to work and stay in the U.S. A roundup of facts about unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. and public opinion.
Survey Report As views of the economy improve and terrorist threats persist, the public’s policy priorities have changed: For the first time in five years, as many Americans cite defending the U.S. against terrorism (76%) as a top policy priority as say that about strengthening the nation’s economy (75%). Since Barack Obama began his second […]
The healthcare industry, food and drink establishments and temp services have driven most of the jobs growth since Barack Obama took office nearly six years ago.
President Obama enters the seventh year of his presidency in a familiar position when compared with his recent predecessors. His 47% job approval rating places him squarely between George W. Bush (33%) and Bill Clinton (63%) at similar points in their second terms. Obama’s rating is comparable to Ronald Reagan’s in January 1987 (49%), when […]
Most Americans say women are every bit as capable of being good leaders as men, whether in political offices or in corporate boardrooms. So why, then, are they underrepresented in top jobs?
The attack on the offices of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo claiming 12 lives was the most closely followed news in the U.S. last week, but interest in the story was not as high when compared with four previous terrorist incidents abroad.
Survey Report In the aftermath of deadly terrorist attacks in Paris — and months after the start of U.S. airstrikes against ISIS — there has been little change in the public’s worries about an imminent terrorist attack in the United States. One-in-four (25%) are very worried about a domestic terrorist attack happening “soon,” while about […]
Almost one-in-five members of the House and Senate are a racial or ethnic minority, making the 114th Congress the most diverse in history. However, Congress remains disproportionately white when compared with the U.S. population, which has grown increasingly diverse in recent decades.
Some political observers predict that Obama will be using his veto pen a lot more in his last two years in office than he did in the first six. Recent history indicates that presidents do veto more bills when both houses of Congress are controlled by the opposing party.
Americans’ views of politics and elected officials are unrelentingly negative, with little hope of improvement on the horizon. 65% of Americans say they always or often feel exhausted when thinking about politics. By contrast, just 10% say they always or often feel hopeful about politics.
Pew Research Center’s political typology provides a roadmap to today’s fractured political landscape. It organizes the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values. Even in a polarized era, the 2021 survey reveals deep divisions in both partisan coalitions.
Partisanship remains the strongest factor dividing the American public. Yet there are substantial divisions within both parties on fundamental political values, views of current issues and the severity of the problems facing the nation.