Politics & Media

18% of users have shunned "friends" who have different ideas and 16% have found friends whose beliefs match their own

Overview With a critical Republican primary in Florida, the 2012 presidential campaign was the public’s top story last week, closely followed by news about the economy. About a quarter (23%) say they followed news about the candidates for president most closely. Another 18% say the economy was their top story. Nearly as many (15%) say […]

Overview With a contested primary in only one party this year, fewer Americans are closely following news about the presidential campaign than four years ago. As a consequence, long-term declines in the number of people getting campaign news from such sources as local TV and network news have steepened, and even the number gathering campaign […]

A new PEJ study of the Twitter campaign conversation using computer technology reveals how the White House hopefuls fared, examines differences between the political discussions on Twitter and blogs, and updates the tone of the candidates’ news narratives.

The political conversation on Twitter is markedly different than that on blogs—and both are decidedly different than the political narrative presented by the mainstream press, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism that analyzed more than 20 million tweets, the online conversation and traditional news coverage about the campaign.

Lee Rainie gave a keynote address about the new civic and political landscape to a summit sponsored by the Pew Voter Information Project for state election officials and technology executives who help them.

A new report documents how the swirl of sexual harassment allegations contributed to surprise frontrunner Herman Cain’s most difficult week of news coverage to date.

Which candidate has fared best in the news media in the first five months of the race for president?  

Director Lee Rainie presented findings from Pew Internet about the role of the internet, cell phones, and social media on civic life.

Senior research staff answer questions from readers relating to all the areas covered by our seven projects, ranging from polling techniques and findings, to media, technology, religious, demographic and global attitudes trends.