U.S. Elections & Voters

For Democratic candidates, the decisive factors in Iowa and New Hampshire are personal and tactical; for GOP contestants, however, the ultimate outcome may be decided by the relative strength of newly combative ideological elements.

From holiday distractions to winter weather, the people who will be measuring voters' preferences in primaries and caucuses around the nation will be dealing with unprecedented problems. Here's how they plan to do it.

Summary of Findings Oprah Winfrey’s well-publicized appearances with Barack Obama have raised Obama’s visibility, especially among African Americans. Roughly a quarter of Americans (26%) say they have heard more about Obama recently than any other presidential candidate, up from just 10% in November. Meanwhile, though Hillary Clinton remains the most visible candidate overall, the proportion […]

Summary of Findings Voters in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire are being inundated with mail, phone calls and other contacts from the presidential campaigns. In particular, overwhelming majorities of likely voters in both states have received pre-recorded calls, or “robo-calls,” about the campaign. However, far more Democratic voters than Republican voters […]

This report analyzes Census data and voting trends on a state-by-state basis to explore the potential of Latinos to be a "swing vote" in the 2008 presidential election.

Summary of Findings Republican voter sentiment in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina is highly fluid. Compared with Democratic voters, likely Republican voters in these three politically disparate states express less enthusiasm about their field of presidential candidates, and many Republicans voice only modest support for their choices. Mike Huckabee runs even with Mitt Romney […]

Pew Forum Faith Angle Conference Key West, Florida Video Highlights Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in December 2007 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. John Green, author of The Faith Factor: How Religion Influences American Elections, described how George Bush’s victory […]

Summary of Findings Democrats enter the presidential primary campaign upbeat about their candidates and united in their views on major issues. Sen. Hillary Clinton is the clear frontrunner in New Hampshire and South Carolina, where she holds 19-point and 14-point leads, respectively. However in Iowa she is in a statistical tie with Barack Obama. Clinton […]

In a format the public says it prefers -- "regular people," not journalists, posing the questions -- immigration emerged as the hot-button issue. Were the candidates' answers in sync with GOP voters' opinions?

A survey finds no evidence that a significant number of voters are considering crossing party lines -- or voting strategically for the other party's weakest candidate.