Partisanship & Issues

White evangelical Protestants have become the most important part of the Republican Party's electoral base, making up nearly one-in-four of those who identify with the GOP and vote for its candidates. This analysis examines the current state of evangelical support for the GOP, in light of the approaching 2006 elections.

Unlike the past three mid-term election campaigns, Democrats are more enthusiastic than Republicans about voting this year.

About one-third of Democratic voters now describe themselves as liberal, an increase since 2000, when just one-in-four Democrats self-identified with the "L-word." Meantime, some 41% of Democrats now call themselves moderate and 23% say they are conservatives.

Summary of Findings Turnout in the 2006 midterm election may well be higher than normal, given the level of interest expressed by voters. Today, 51% of voters say they have given a lot of thought to this November’s election, up from 45% at this point in 2002 and 42% in early October of 1998. Even […]

Pew Research Center Washington, D.C. With the November mid-term elections approaching, the Pew Forum convened a roundtable discussion with three respected observers of religion and party politics. Joining the conversation was Amy Sullivan, a former aide to former Senator Tom Daschle currently writing a book on faith and the Democratic Party, Ross Douthat, an associate […]

A new book surveying more than 1,000 journalists finds their politics have drifted a bit to the right since the 1990s, but they still remain more liberal than the general US population. With a majority of the public accusing news outlets of political bias, these numbers aren’t likely to silence that noisy debate.

Red States Stay Red, Blue States Get Bluer, Swing States Deadlock

Leading Democrats have attacked the employment practices of Wal-Mart, but the party's rank-and-file is divided about the company. Liberals are negative, while conservatives and moderates have a positive view.

Latinos are feeling more discriminated against, politically energized and unified following the immigration policy debate and the pro-immigration marches this spring.

by Gregory A. Smith, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and Peyton M. Craighill, Pew Research Center for the People & the Press In the immediate aftermath of George W. Bush’s 2004 victory over John Kerry, many journalists and other political observers declared the election to have been decided, in large part, on the […]