2012 Health Survey Data
We posted a preliminary version of the September 2012 health survey data.
State of the Union 2013 and Public Opinion
VIDEO: Pew Research Center President Alan Murray talks with the Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib about President Obama’s State of the Union address and how it compares to the public’s priorities. President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address to the nation on Tues., Feb. 12. A survey released ahead of his speech […]
The U.S. Focuses on Its Homefront
The president’s inaugural address and the confirmation testimony of Kerry and Hagel are being scrutinized by foreigners for signs of America’s international intentions. To separate lofty ambitions from practical realities, their statements must be interpreted in the context of U.S. public opinion – and that means they should be taken with a large grain of salt.
U.S. Use of Drones, Under New Scrutiny, Has Been Widely Opposed Abroad
The U.S. drone campaign against suspected terrorists is drawing new attention on Capitol Hill with the nomination of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to be Director of Central Intelligence. But outside of the United States, opinion on the use of drones for targeted killings is already clear: there is considerable opposition to the drone campaign in a majority of nations surveyed.
Will Conservative Talkers Take On Immigration Reform?
Back in 2007, when President George W. Bush pushed for new immigration legislation, PEJ research showed the degree to which conservative talk hosts attacked the measure. And, they themselves took credit for helping to kill it. Will these hosts reprise their staunch opposition this time around? The early indications suggest that perhaps not.
The Contraception Mandate and Religious Liberty
On Feb. 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released new rules for how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate applies to religious nonprofits, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals. Church-state law scholars Ira C. Lupu and Robert Tuttle explain the new rules and the legal arguments that religious groups might make.
Broad Support for Combat Roles for Women
Overview The public broadly supports the military’s decision to lift restrictions on women in combat. Two-thirds (66%) support allowing women in the military to serve in ground units that engage in close combat, while just 26% are opposed. Opinion on this question is little changed from a Washington Post/ABC News survey two years ago. The […]
Is Obama Out of Step with America on Foreign Policy?
The U.S. president’s inaugural address is a speech heard and read around the world, and is interpreted as a sign of America’s intentions going forward. To separate lofty ambitions from more practical realities, it needs to be interpreted in the context of U.S. public opinion.
Immigration Rises on Washington’s Agenda, Not the Public’s
The issue of immigration reform is again a hot topic in Washington, with news of a bipartisan Senate compromise proposal to overhaul immigration laws. But immigration is only a middle-tier issue on the public’s agenda, and it has declined in importance since the end of the Bush administration. In the Pew Research Center’s annual policy […]
The U.S. Fiscal Cliff Redux
At the turn of the year the United States avoided careening over a fiscal cliff - which would have triggered recession-inducing automatic tax increases and spending cuts - by passing legislation that raised some taxes, but did little to cut spending.
