Top of the Mind Impressions of Obama
An interactive graphic shows how perceptions of the president have changed over the past few months.
Search: “Swine Flu”
The public ranks the internet most useful as a source of information on the virus. Where and how are people finding flu facts online?
Obama’s Favorite Theologian? A Short Course on Reinhold Niebuhr
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 […]
Public Takes Conservative Turn on Gun Control, Abortion
Overview Public attitudes on a pair of contentious national issues – gun control and abortion – have moved in a more conservative direction over the past year. In both cases, the changes have been driven in part by relatively large shifts among men, while opinions among women have not changed very much. For the first […]
Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History
The electorate in last year’s presidential election was the most racially and ethnically diverse in U.S. history, with nearly one-in-four votes cast by non-whites, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data.
Obama, Catholics and the Notre Dame Commencement
Most Catholics who have heard about the issue support the University of Notre Dame’s decision to invite President Barack Obama to speak and receive an honorary degree at its May 17 commencement, even though he supports abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research. But a new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on […]
Obama Coverage:Too Personal but Not Too Favorable
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.
The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate
Updated May 7, 2009 Amid intense public debate over the use of torture against suspected terrorists, an analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life of a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press illustrates differences in the views of four major religious traditions in […]
Support for Free Trade Recovers Despite Recession
Overview Despite the economic recession, public support for free trade agreements has recovered after declining a year ago. Currently, 44% say that free trade agreements like NAFTA and the policies of the World Trade Organization are good for the country, up from 35% a year ago. Slightly more than a third (35%) say that such […]
Obama’s First 100 Days
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.
