Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Political Issues

  • report

    More Americans Question Religion’s Role In Politics

    Overview Some Americans are having a change of heart about mixing religion and politics. A new survey finds a narrow majority of the public saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters. For a decade, majorities of Americans […]

  • report

    More Americans Question Religion’s Role in Politics

    Some Americans are having a change of heart about mixing religion and politics. A new survey finds a narrow majority of the public saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters. For a decade, majorities of Americans had […]

  • fact sheet

    The Blaine Game: Controversy Over the Blaine Amendments and Public Funding of Religion

    In June 2008, a church-state watchdog organization and several other groups filed a lawsuit in Florida seeking to remove from the state’s November ballot two proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution. The proposed amendments, if passed, would eliminate legal obstacles that currently prevent Florida from funding religious schools. One of the proposed amendments would permit […]

  • report

    The Chinese Celebrate Their Roaring Economy, As They Struggle With Its Costs

    The 2008 Pew Global Attitudes survey in China finds that more than eight-in-ten Chinese are satisfied with their country’s overall direction and their national economy, a significant increase in contentment from earlier in the decade. But levels of personal satisfaction are generally lower than the national measures, and the poll suggests the Chinese people – who express concern about inflation and pollution – may be struggling with the consequences of economic growth.