Pew Research Center Staff

Voters give Obama’s campaign higher marks than McCain’s.

A majority of voters want a third political party.

Currently, just 29% of Republicans are satisfied with the state of the nation, an eleven-point drop in just two months, and half the proportion expressing satisfaction in January 2007

Nearly six-in-ten Americans say Republicans favor the rich.

Young voters identify much more with Democrats than Republicans.

By a margin of 46-42, Americans say that the rich are rich mainly because they know the right people or are born into wealth rather than because of hard work, ambition or education.

Majorities in 18 of 24 countries describe current economic conditions in their country as bad.

A plurality of Americans think it was a bad decision to hold the Olympics in Beijing.

Nearly half of independents (46%) are undecided or may change their minds.

Not one Shia respondent in the Lebanese sample expresses a favorable view of America