Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

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  • short reads

    Faithful Students?

    On a quiz of religious knowledge, on average, Americans answer 16 of 32 questions correctly.

  • presentation

    The Distributed Future

    In this speech, Director Lee Rainie will explore how digital technologies have changed people’s relationship to each other and to information. Further, he will discuss the coming decade of change in technology and its possible uses by consumers an…

  • report

    Year of the Census: China Counts

    China is taking its once-a-decade census, sending six million enumerators door-to-door, and will attempt to count people where they actually live, rather than where their households are officially registered. This represents a change from the methodology that has prevailed since the Peoples Republic of China was founded in 1949. Major challenges during the 10-day enumeration […]

  • report

    The Media Roar into the Midterms

    Attention to the crucial midterm congressional elections reached new heights last week, accounting for nearly half the overall news coverage. The top stories also included the economy, a new terror plot, the conflict in Afghanistan and fresh revelations about the BP oil disaster that dominated coverage in the summer. 

  • short reads

    The Preference Gap

    Among all registered voters, preferences are about evenly divided — 44% Democratic, 43% Republican. But among likely voters, Republicans lead by 6 points (48% to 42%) — one of the largest gaps in preferences between all voters and likely voters ever recorded in Pew Research Center surveys.

  • short reads

    The Enthusiasm Gap

    Far more Republicans than Democrats say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting in this year’s congressional election.

  • report

    GOP Likely to Capture Control of House

    Republicans continue to hold a solid lead in preferences for Tuesday’s midterm elections among likely voters — enough so as to suggest they will win control of the House. The GOP owes its lead to strong backing from independents and record-levels of engagement among its partisans.