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Fact Tank - Our Lives in Numbers
JUN 19, 2014 11:35 A M
‘March for Marriage’ rally reflects
steadfast opposition to gay marriage
among evangelical Christians
BY DAVID MASCILEAVE A COMMENT
At a time when polls show a growing number of Americans favor same-sex marriage, a
coalition of groups opposing gay marriage are holding a “March for Marriage” today in
Washington, D.C., to demonstrate what organizers call a “deep and wide support for the
definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” according to National
Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown.

2. The tide of public opinion on same-sex
marriage has changed rapidly. In just five years, the percentage of adults who say they
oppose same-sex marriage has fallen from a majority (54%) to a minority. Today,
roughly four-in-ten Americans (39%) say they oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples
to wed, according to Pew Research Center polling.
But while opposition to same-sex marriage is still sizable, it is now more concentrated
among a few religious groups – particularly white evangelical Protestants. (Many of the
groups sponsoring today’s rally are affiliated with evangelical Christianity.)
White evangelical Protestants, many of whom belong to churches that still firmly
prohibit gay marriage, tend to be much more likely to oppose same-sex marriage than
the general population or other large faith groups. Indeed, seven-in-ten white
evangelical Protestants say they oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed. In
addition, about half of African-American Protestants (49%), some of whom belong to
historically black churches that are evangelical, also oppose gay marriage. Read More →

3. TOPICS: EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTS AND EVANGELICALISM, GAY MARRIAGE AND
HOMOSEXUALITY
JUN 19, 2014 7:01 AM
7 facts about White House press
secretaries
BY MARK JURKOWITZ2 COMMENTS
Can you name these White House press secretaries and the presidents they served? See answers at the bottom.
In replacing Jay Carney in front of the media today, Josh Earnest becomes the
30th
presidential press secretary since the post was created 85 years ago, according to
Towson University professor Martha Joynt Kumar, a leading expert and author on White
House communications.
As the guard changes at the press room podium, Kumar helped Pew Research put
together this collection of historical facts and figures about those whose job it is to
position themselves—sometimes as a conduit, sometimes as a shield—between the
commander in chief and the Fourth Estate.
1The first man to officially hold the post of press secretary
was George Akerson, who served President Herbert Hoover from March 1929
until February 1931. While other presidential secretaries helped to brief reporters,
Akerson was the first whose only responsibilities involved dealing with the media. Read
More →
TOPICS: BARACK OBAMA, NEWS SOURCES

4. JUN 18, 2014 2:50 PM
For World Refugee Day, 5 long-term
refugee trends
BY PHILLIP CONNORLEAVE A COMMENT
Mervat, 31, stands outside of her tent as she holds her 9-month-old daughter, Shurouk, at a camp for Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s Bekaa
Valley on Tuesday, March 11, 2014. Credit: AP Photo/Bilal Hussein.
Unrest in Ukraine, Syria and Iraq has prompted renewed attention about refugees across
the world in recent weeks. But in the face of such news stories, long-term refugee trends
are often overlooked.
According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees flee their home country because of
political, ethnic or religious tensions. Although millions of people may move within a
country to avoid conflict and violence (they are often described as internally displaced
people), people must cross international borders to be counted as refugees. (And
although generations of Palestinian refugees are counted as part of the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, Palestinian refugees are
not included in estimates by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees.)
Using trend data from the UNHCR for 2002 to 2012, here are five facts – in marking
ofWorld Refugee Day on June 20 – that shed light on the changing shape of refugee
populations around the world.

5. 1The number of refugees has fallen from its 1990s peak.
The number of refugees living in a foreign country who are either waiting to return or be
resettled peaked in the early 1990s at about 18 million. During the 1990s peak, most of
the world’s refugees were leaving Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries in sub-Saharan
Africa. In 2012, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Syria were top countries of origin for
refugees. But despite the ongoing conflicts in these countries, the number of refugees
around the world is considerably less than it was two decades ago, numbering between
10 million and 12 million in recent years.
Read More →
TOPICS: MIGRATION, WARS AND INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS
JUN 18, 2014 1:45 PM

6. The Sunni-Shia divide: Where they live,
what they believe and how they view
each other
BY MICHAEL LIPKA2 COMMENTS
The ongoing and intensifying conflict in Iraq has fallen – at least in part – along sectarian
lines, with the Sunni Muslim militant group ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria)
advancing against the Shia Muslim-led Iraqi government and Shia militias. Sectarian
affiliation has played a role in the politics of the region for hundreds of years.

8. only a handful of countries that have more Shias than Sunnis. While it is widely
assumed that Iraq has a Shia majority, there is little reliable data on the exact Sunni-
Shia breakdown of the population there, particularly since refugees arriving in Iraq due
to theconflict in Syria or leaving Iraq due to its own turmoil may have affected the
composition of Iraq’s population.
The few available survey measures of religious identity in Iraq suggest that about half
the country is Shia. Surveys by ABC Newsfound between 47% and 51% of the country
identifying as Shia between 2007 and 2009, and a Pew Research survey conducted in Iraq
in late 2011 found that 51% of Iraqi Muslims said they were Shia (compared with 42%
saying they were Sunni).
Neighboring Iran is home to the world’s largest Shia population: Between 90% and 95%
of Iranian Muslims (66-70 million people) were Shias in 2009, according toour estimate
from that year.
Their shared demographic makeup may help explain Iran’s support for Iraq’s Shia-
dominated government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Read More →
TOPICS: MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, MUSLIMS AND ISLAM
JUN 18, 2014 10:31 A M
Where Christian churches, other
religions stand on gay marriage
BY DAVID MASCI27 COMMENTS
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) plans to hold a historic vote on same-sex marriage
this week that could reverberate beyond the church’s nearly 2 million members. Church
leaders gathering in Detroit are expected to decide as early as today whether to allow gay
marriage or to continue to prohibit it, a move some Christian leaders believe could
influence other centrist and liberal mainline Protestant churches as they also grapple
with the issue.

9. In the last two decades, several religious groups have moved to allow same-sex couples
to marry within their traditions. This includes the Reform and Conservative Jewish
movements, Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ. Read
More →
TOPICS: CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY, GAY MARRIAGE AND HOMOSEXUALITY
JUN 17, 2014 11:00 A M
Why timely, reliable data on mass
killings is hard to find
BY DREW DESILVERLEAVE A COMMENT

10. The United States has experienced a spate
of public killing sprees in recent weeks. In June alone, shootings at Seattle Pacific
University, Reynolds High School in suburban Portland, and in Las Vegas left a total
of five people dead and three wounded (excluding the shooters). Last month, a 22-year-
old college student in southern California stabbed his three roommates to death, then shot
and killed three more people and wounded 13 others before shooting himself.
Which makes us wonder: Are school shootings and other killing sprees really more
common nowadays? The available data don’t offer clear evidence, due to issues of
timeliness, reliability or both.
The most frequently cited source for data on mass killings is the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, yet it falls short in several ways. The agency relies on voluntary reporting
by local police agencies; as a result, USA Today reported last year, the FBI data had only
about a 61% accuracy rate — missing some crimes entirely and miscategorizing others.

11. Besides such errors, Florida doesn’t report homicides to the FBI at all, and Nebraska
and Washington, D.C., only started doing so in 2009.
A more comprehensive database maintained by USA Today lists 38 public mass killings
since 2006; all but four were shootings. Since 2006, the number of public mass killings
each year has varied between 3 and 6. The year 2012, which saw both the Aurora, Colo.,
and Newtown, Conn., massacres, had by far the most total fatalities (63). Read More →
TOPICS: CRIMINAL JUSTICE, VIOLENCE AND SOCIETY
JUN 17, 2014 9:00 AM
Which party is more to blame for
political polarization? It depends on the
measure
BY CARROLL DOHERTY4 COMMENTS
Our report on political polarization in America has renewed debate among journalists and
academics over what is called “asymmetrical polarization” – the idea that one party has
moved further ideologically than the other. A number of congressional scholars have
concluded that the widening partisan gap in Congress is attributable mostly to a rightward
shift among Republican lawmakers. But what about the public? Have Republicans
nationwide shifted further than Democrats over the past two decades?
The report addresses this issue in considerable detail. What we find is clear evidence of
more ideologically consistent thinking on both sides of the spectrum, as well as greater
levels of partisan antipathy, though the latter is currently more acute on the right than
on the left.

12. Read More →
TOPICS: POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND VALUES, POLITICAL POLARIZATION
JUN 17, 2014 7:00 AM
A dug-in electorate bodes poorly for the
Democrats in November
BY ANDREW KOHUT2 COMMENTS

13. Since the Affordable Care Act was passed nearly
four years ago, a plurality of Americans have disapproved of it. Since the onset of the
Great Recession six years ago, more than 80% of Americans have rated economic
conditions as only fair or poor. And since winning a second term, Barack Obama’s
approval score has mostly been in the mid-40s or lower. One or more of these attitudes
will have to move in a clearly positive direction for the Democratic Party to avoid a
drubbing in the congressional elections, according to a new analysis of voter opinion.
So far the indications for that are not so good. Recent months have shown signs of
economic progress and indications that the Affordable Care Act has begun to achieve its
goals. But there is little indication that the unemployment rate’s falling to 6.3%, the Dow

14. Jones average soaring to a new high and the ACA signing up 8 million people, (including
many young people,) had any effect on attitudes about these two key issues. Read More→
TOPICS: 2014 ELECTION, POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION, PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL, U.S. POLITICAL
PARTIES
JUN 16, 2014 3:00 PM
In countries near Syria, widespread fear
about the spread of violence, extremists
BY JAMES BELLLEAVE A COMMENT
Credit: Getty Images
The successful capture last week of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, by the extremist
organization Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – and the group’s continued push
toward the Iraqi capital, Baghdad – seemed to confirm widespread fears in the Middle
East that violence in Syria would spill over into neighboring states.

15. Middle East worries about spreading
violence and a possible triumph by extremists in Syria have been evident in Pew
Research surveys the past two years. A 2013 poll found that roughly three-quarters or
more of the public in Lebanon, Tunisia, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian
territories were concerned that the ongoing Syrian conflict would destabilize nearby
countries. (The Pew Research Center did not poll in Iraq.)
This year, our newest poll reveals that people in these same neighboring countries are
also concerned that extremists, such as ISIS, will prevail in Syria. Read More →
TOPICS: MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, TERRORISM
JUN 16, 2014 11:53 A M
So, you married an atheist…
BY MICHAEL LIPKA AND JESSICA MARTÍNEZ6 COMMENTS

16. How would you react if a family member

17. were to marry a born-again Christian – or an atheist?
A new Pew Research Center survey found that despite high levels of political polarization
overall, most Americans in each major political party said “it wouldn’t matter” if an
immediate family membermarried someone who identifies with the opposite party. But fewer
U.S. adults – especially Christians – are neutral toward the idea of welcoming someone
who doesn’t believe in God into their family through marriage.
About three-quarters of white evangelicals (77%) and two-thirds of black Protestants
(67%) in the survey said they would be unhappy if a family member were to marry an
atheist, as did 55% of Catholics and 46% of white mainline Protestants.
By comparison, Americans who are religiously unaffiliated are much more comfortable
with the prospect of a family member marrying a born-again Christian. Most religious
“nones” (73%) said that such a union would not matter to them, while one-in-ten (9%)
even said they would behappy to see such a marriage. About one-in-six (17%) said they
would be unhappy.
Even among people who specifically identify themselves as atheists or agnostics, two-
thirds (67%) said it wouldn’t matter if a family member married a born-again Christian,
while just a quarter (26%) said they’d be unhappy.
TOPICS: RELIGION AND POLITICS
JUN 16, 2014 7:00 AM
5 facts about the World Cup – and the
people who are watching
BY MICHAEL LIPKA6 COMMENTS

18. Aside from the Olympics, there are few events that garner as much global coverage as
the World Cup.
Of all the numbers associated with the event – 32 teams, 64 matches, 736 players, each
team’s odds of winning – some of the biggest (with the exception of the World
Cup’sreported $11.5 billion price tag) are the numbers of people who will be watching.
Here are five facts about World Cup viewership in the United States and around the
world:
1About 3.2 billion people around the world (roughly 46% of the global
population) watched at least a minute of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa on TV in
their homes, according to a report produced for FIFA by the British firm KantarSport. This
is slightly lower than the number of people who reportedly saw at least a minute of the
2012 London Olympics (3.6 billion), according to a report produced for the International
Olympic Committee. Nearly 1 billion people (909.6 million) tuned in for at least a minute
of the 2010 World Cup final, in which Spain defeated the Netherlands, a similar
viewership number to the London Olympics’ opening ceremonies.
2In the United States, 94.5 million people (about 31% of the population)
watched at least 20 consecutive minutes of the last World Cup, an increase of 19% over
the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Compared to the U.S., World Cup host Brazil is far

19. more interested in soccer, with 80% of the population watching at least 20 minutes of
the matches in 2010.
3A similar share of Americans (28%) said they plan to watch World Cup games
this summer, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News survey, which also found
that more Americans called soccer “a big bore” (28%) than said it is “exciting” (19%).
4In a Pew Research survey conducted in January, 22% of Americans said they
were “especially looking forward to” the World Cup, nearly the same share as when we
asked about the 2010 World Cup in January of that year (23%). No other event
mentioned in the 2014 survey found fewer people anticipating the event; more than
twice as many people (51%) said they were looking forward to this fall’s midterm
elections.
5The world will be watching Brazil – both for this summer’s World Cup and the 2016
Summer Olympics – but Brazilians are skeptical about whether the world will see Brazil
in a positive light. About a third (35%) of Brazilians said the World Cup will help
their country’s international image, while roughly four-in-ten (39%) said it
will hurt Brazil’s image, according to a survey we conducted in April.
JUN 13, 2014 4:20 PM
1-in-4 Native Americans and Alaska
Natives are living in poverty
BY JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD1 COMMENT

20. On his visit to the Standing
Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota today, President Obama is using his first stop at a
Native American reservation while in office to highlight the challenges Native Americans
face. In anop-ed published in Indian Country Today, Obama called the poverty and high
school dropout rates among Native Americans “a moral call to action.”
The poverty rate at Standing Rock Reservation is 43.2%, nearly triple the national
average, according to Census Bureau data. The reservation, which straddles North
Dakota and South Dakota, has a population of 8,956, according to theBureau of Indian
Affairs.

21. Native Americans have a

22. higher poverty and unemployment rate when compared with the national average, but
the rates are comparable to those of blacks and Hispanics. About one-in-four American
Indians and Alaska Natives were living in poverty in 2012. Among those who identify as
American Indian or Alaska Native as their only race, the poverty ratewas 29.1% in 2012.
Some 5.2 million people (1.7% of the total U.S. population) identify as Native American
or Alaska Native, with 44% identifying as at least one other race, according to
2010 Census Bureau data, the most recent data available. And census officials have said
that the number of people who self-identify as such has been growing, for reasons they
don’t fully understand.
There were 170,110 people nationwide who identified as Sioux in the 2010 census. The
largest tribal group, Cherokee, has 819,105 people. Of those who identify as Native
American or Alaska Native as their only race, one-in-three (33%) live on reservations or
tribal lands. Among all American Indians and Alaska Natives, about one-in-five (22%)
live on reservations or tribal lands.
TOPICS: DEMOGRAPHICS, POVERTY, RACE AND ETHNICITY, U.S. CENSUS
JUN 13, 2014 11:54 A M
Why we didn’t include the y-axis on our
polarization chart
BY DIANA YOO1 COMMENT
One of the biggest findings in our largest-ever politics survey of Americans was that the
public is more polarized than at any time in recent history. To illustrate, we included an
interactive data visualization of the blue and red “mountains” of Americans, representing
Democrats and Republicans and how their views have changed over time. This unique
interactive does not include a labeled y (vertical) axis, as many are used to seeing in
charts. This was an intentional decision to avoid miscommunication about the meaning
of the area represented by the “mountains.”
In this case, the “mountains” represent the distribution of the American public, from
consistently conservative to consistently liberal, according to how they answered a series
of 10 questions about their political views. To create the distribution, we used their
responses to assign them an ideological consistency score – this is the x (horizontal) axis.

23. The interactive is actually a “smoothed” histogram of these scores, where points along
the curve correspond to averages of adjacent scores. (Find a more detailed explanation
here.)
Read More →
TOPICS: POLITICAL POLARIZATION, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
JUN 13, 2014 9:00 AM
Chart of the Week: The World Cup of
(almost) everything
BY DREW DESILVER2 COMMENTS

25. Soccer’s World Cup tournament, now getting underway, is front-page news around the
world. But why should the sports world have all the fun? The infographics whizzes at
The Wall Street Journal adapted the Cup’s group-and-bracket format to show which of
the 32 countries in the tournament stand out on 70 dimensions, only a handful of them
related to soccer.
On the interactive version of the chart, clicking on any of the topics in the left-hand rail
automatically reorders the brackets and picks the “winner.” We learn, for example, that
Russia leads the World Cup qualifiers in most cellphone subscriptions per capita (1.84),
Argentina has the heaviest meat-eaters (570 calories per capita per day, beating out the
French), and the Netherlands has the highest internet usage rate (93% of its population
is online). It’s a simple and elegant, yet compulsively fascinating way of presenting a lot
of data about the world.
(And not to ignore entirely the actual sport, Brazil has the best all-time record in World
Cup competition, with 216 points scored. But Belgium has the tallest World Cup roster,
averaging just over 6 feet.)
CATEGORY: CHART OF THE WEEK
TOPICS: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
JUN 13, 2014 7:00 AM
How the most ideologically polarized
Americans live different lives
BY DREW DESILVER13 COMMENTS

26. For America’s most ardent liberals and conservatives, polarization begins at home.
In what may seem like stereotypes come to life, a new Pew Research Center study on
political polarization finds that conservatives would rather live in large houses in small
towns and rural areas — ideally among people of the same religious faith — while
liberals opt for smaller houses and walkable communities in cities, preferably with a mix
of different races and ethnicities. And sizable minorities of both groups say they’d be
dismayed if someone from the “other side” were to marry into their family. Read More →
TOPICS: POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND VALUES, POLITICAL POLARIZATION
JUN 12, 2014 3:55 PM
More Americans say U.S. failed to
achieve its goals in Iraq
BY BRUCE DRAKE2 COMMENTS

27. As Sunni militants make a major military push against the central government in Iraq,
the Obama administration is said to have rebuffed requests from Prime Minister Nuri al-
Maliki to carry out airstrikes at extremist bases. That reported reluctance follows years
of U.S. military intervention in Iraq that many Americans say was misguided and failed
to achieve its goals.
About half (52%) of
Americans said the U.S. had mostly failed to achieve its goals in Iraq compared with
37% who said it had succeeded, according to aPew Research Center surveyconducted in
January. That amounted to a 19-point decline in perceived success since 2011. And, by
about the same margin (50% to 38%), the public said the U.S. had made the wrong
decision in using military force in Iraq. Read More →
TOPICS: MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, MILITARY AND VETERANS, WARS AND INTERNATIONAL
CONFLICTS
JUN 12, 2014 12:56 P M
5 facts about today’s fathers
BY KIM PARKERLEAVE A COMMENT

28. Credit: Getty Images
As the American family changes, fatherhood is changing in important and sometimes
surprising ways. Recent Pew Research Center studies show that fathers who live with
their children are taking a more active role in caring for them and helping out around the
house. And the ranks of stay-at-home fathers and single fathers have grown significantly in
recent decades. At the same time, more and more children are growing up without a
father in the home.
The changing role of fathers has introduced new challenges, as dads juggle the
competing demands of family and work. Here are some key findings about fathers from
recent Pew Research Center reports.
1Fewer dads are their family’s sole breadwinner.

29. Among married couples with children
under age 18, dual income households are now the dominant arrangement (60%). In 1960,
only one-in-four of these households had two incomes; 70% had a father who worked
and a mother who was at home with the kids.
The public has mixed views about these changes. Most (62%) say that a marriage where
the husband and wife both have jobs and both take care of the house and children is
preferable to one where the husband works and the wife takes care of the home and
family (30%). At the same time, a majority (74%) says having more women in the
workplace makes it harder for parents to raise children. Read More →
TOPICS: FAMILY ROLES, HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY STRUCTURE, INCOME, MARRIAGE AND
DIVORCE, PARENTHOOD,WORK AND EMPLOYMENT
JUN 12, 2014 10:00 A M
The polarized Congress of today has its
roots in the 1970s
BY DREW DESILVER24 COMMENTS

30. You don’t have to look hard to see evidence of political polarization – just watch cable
news, listen to talk radio or follow social-media debates. Indeed, a new Pew Research
Center report finds that Americans are more ideologically polarized today than they’ve
been in at least two decades. Their representatives in Congress are divided too, and have
been pulling apart since the days of M*A*S*H and Billy Beer.
With Democrats and Republicans more ideologically separated than ever before,
compromises have become scarcer and more difficult to achieve, contributing to the
current Congress’ inability to get much of consequence done. But going beyond anecdotal
evidence to examine congressional polarization more rigorously can be tricky.
Fortunately, political scientists Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal have developed a
widely accepted metric, DW-NOMINATE, that places every senator and representative
on the same set of ideological scales. Using their data, it’s clear that the congressional
parties, after decades of relatively little polarization, began pulling apart in the mid-1970s.
Today, they say, “Congress is now more polarized than at any time since the end of
Reconstruction.” Read More →
TOPICS: CONGRESS, POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND VALUES, U.S. POLITICAL PARTIES
JUN 12, 2014 7:00 AM
7 things to know about polarization in
America
BY CARROLL DOHERTY21 COMMENTS
Political polarization is the defining feature of early 21st
century American politics, both
among the public and elected officials. As part of a year-long study of polarization, the
Pew Research Center has conducted the largest political survey in its history – a poll of
more than 10,000 adults between January and March of this year. It finds that
Republicans and Democrats are further apart ideologically than at any point in recent
history. Growing numbers of Republicans and Democrats express highly negative views
of the opposing party. And to a considerable degree, polarization is reflected in the
personal lives and lifestyles of those on both the right and left.
Here are 7 key findings on polarization in America today:

31. 1The share of Americans who express consistently
conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled over the
past two decades, from 10% to 21%. As a result, the amount of ideological overlap
between the two parties has diminished. The “median,” or typical, Republican is now
more conservative than 94% of Democrats, compared with 70% twenty years ago. And
the median Democrat is more liberal than 92% of Republicans, up from 64%. Among
Republicans and Democrats who are highly engaged in politics, 70% now take positions
that are mostly or consistently in line with the ideological bent of their party. Read
More →
TOPICS: POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND VALUES, POLITICAL POLARIZATION, U.S. POLITICAL PARTIES
JUN 12, 2014 12:01 A M
How Pew Research conducted the
polarization survey and launched a new
research panel

32. BY SARA GOO5 COMMENTS
Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research, Pew Research Center
Throughout its history, the Pew Research Center has periodically conducted major
surveys that take an in-depth look at important trends in American political attitudes
and behavior. Today we released one suchsurvey on political polarization, which is
arguably the defining feature of early 21st century American politics. This is reflected
not only in the public’s views about issues ranging from immigration to guns, but also in
their personal lives and lifestyles. The study is the center’s largest-yet effort — a survey
of more than 10,000 adults, as well as a new component called the American Trends
Panel. The survey was funded in part through grants from the William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and supported by Don C. and
Jeane M. Bertsch.
Director of Survey Research Scott Keeter answered some questions about how the
survey was done.
This survey includes more than 10,000 adults. Why did you
decide to survey so many people for this report – isn’t a
nationally representative sample usually around 1,000 people?
There are many reasons, but the most important is that having a larger number of
people participating in the survey allows us to better describe the characteristics,
attitudes and behaviors of smaller segments of the larger, nationwide public. For
example, the larger sample allows us to interview a larger number of campaign donors,
people with consistently conservative or liberal attitudes or regular primary voters.

33. These individuals, even as smaller shares of the public, may have an outsize impact on
the phenomenon of political polarization. Read More →
TOPICS: POLITICAL POLARIZATION, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, U.S. POLITICAL PARTIES
JUN 11, 2014 3:44 PM
Can Twitter survive in a Facebook
world? The key is being different
BY JOANNA BRENNER1 COMMENT
News organizations have been reporting in recent weeks that Twitter’s growth rate has
been slowing, which has spurred speculation about its future.
The Pew Research Center has watched social networking in the U.S. grow faster and
change more than most other internet activities, and that landscape continues to evolve
quickly. Our studies have shown that Twitter occupies an important segment of the
social networking world, but, in sheer numbers, its user base lags far behind the social
networking behemoth Facebook.
When Pew Research first
began tracking Twitter usage in November 2010, 8% of online adults used the platform.
As of January 2014, 19% of online adults were using Twitter. The last time we asked
about Facebook in September 2013, we found71% of internet users using the social network.

34. But judging whether Twitter can survive in a Facebook-dominated world might not be
the right predictor of its staying power in the market because of the niche it occupies.
Put simply: Twitter is different; not only in who it attracts, but also in how it is used and
how messages spread on the platform. Twitter also often acts more like a broadcasting
network than a social network, connecting speakers and their content to the public. Read
More →
TOPICS: INTERNET ACTIVITIES, SOCIAL MEDIA, SOCIAL NETWORKING
JUN 11, 2014 2:00 PM
Tea Partiers are not all immigration
hawks
BY MICHAEL DIMOCK4 COMMENTS
One of the storylines
coming out of last night’s surprise loss by Republican Rep. Eric Cantor was that
theimmigration issue was a major point of weakness for the House majority leader. More
specifically, Cantor’s relatively conservative stance on immigration reform was viewed
as not conservative enough for the Tea Party base within his party.

35. Yet a Pew Research Center survey, conducted Jan. 23-Feb. 9, shows that most Americans
favor a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, though there are partisan and
ideological differences over the issue. Nationwide, 76% say people currently in the
country illegally should be eligible for citizenship if they meet certain requirements, and
just 23% disagree. Among Republicans, that majority slips to 66% vs. 32%. And
narrowing further to Republicans who agree with the Tea Party still finds a 59%
majority in favor of a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and 39%
opposed. Read More →
TOPICS: IMMIGRATION ATTITUDES, UNAUTHORIZED IMMIGRATION
JUN 10, 2014 1:28 PM
For three states, share of Hispanic
population returns to the past
BY JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD AND MARK HUGO LOPEZ1 COMMENT

36. The number of Hispanics, the largest minority group in the
United States, has increased nearly six-fold since 1970, to 53 million today. But in three
states, the rising share of the Hispanic population has returned to levels not seen in

37. more than a century. It’s a story similar to that of the nation’s most recent immigrant
boom, which has lifted the share of immigrants in the U.S. to levels last seen a century
ago.
In New Mexico and Colorado, the share of the Hispanic population today is higher than
it was in 1910, according to Census Bureau data. Arizona’s current share of the Hispanic
population is approaching what it was a century ago. But if you go back even further, in
1870, the share of the Hispanic population was even higher in all three states.
Large Hispanic populations in the southwestern U.S. can be traced to the Spanish
exploration and settlement of the areanearly 500 years ago. In the 1500s, Spaniards
explored present-day New Mexico, Arizona and parts of Colorado, lands that later
became Spanish territories. Mexico took control of these areas in 1821, when it gained
independence from Spain. These areas became territories of the United States in 1848
after the Mexican-American War. Statehood arrived later—1876 for Colorado, and 1912
for New Mexico and Arizona.
New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado represent three of seven states where Hispanics make
up at least 20% of the population today. In New Mexico, Hispanics today make up 47%
of the state’s population while the second largest group, whites, makes up 39%. The last
time that Hispanics were the largest population group was in 1900, when the state was
60% Hispanic and 23% white. But by the turn of the 20th
century, the share of Hispanics
was on the decline. Read More →
TOPICS: HISPANIC/LATINO DEMOGRAPHICS, POPULATION GEOGRAPHY
JUN 10, 2014 7:00 AM
Number of Latino children caught
trying to enter U.S. nearly doubles in
less than a year
BY JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD AND ANA GONZALEZ-BARRERA4 COMMENTS

39. A record number of unaccompanied children have been apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico
border since October, an influx so large that President Obama has called it an “urgent
humanitarian situation.” To help house the overflow of children, emergency shelters have
opened at military bases in California, Texas and Oklahoma, in addition to a facility in
Arizona. And the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday unveiled a new $2 million legal aid
program to help children navigate immigration courts.
Between Oct. 1, 2013, and May 31 of this year, 47,017 unaccompanied children under 18
traveling without a parent or guardian were taken into custody, according to U.S.
Customs and Border Protection. That total is nearly twice as high as all of the last fiscal
year (24,493 apprehensions), with four months yet to go in the current fiscal year.
One unofficial government estimate projects apprehensions rising to 90,000 in 2014—
nearly four times as many as the year before. Read More →
TOPICS: IMMIGRATION, UNAUTHORIZED IMMIGRATION
JUN 9, 2014 7:00 AM
Southern Baptists confront a ‘third way’
on homosexuality and sin
BY TIM TOWNSEND AND JESSICA MARTÍNEZ56 COMMENTS

40. As the Southern Baptist

41. Convention begins its annual meeting Tuesday in Baltimore, the country’s largest
Protestant body will confront an issue agitating many conservative evangelical Christian
churches: How to navigate the rapidly shifting landscape of same-sex marriage and
homosexuality.
The denomination, which claims 16 million membersbut also has been struggling with
declining membership, defines God’s plan for marriage and sexual intimacy as between “one
man and one woman,” and teaches that homosexuality is “not a ‘valid alternative
lifestyle.’” According to its constitution, if a congregation decides to “affirm, approve or
endorse homosexual behavior,” it is considered no longer “in cooperation with” the
wider body.
But in February, a California pastor told his Southern Baptist congregation that he no
longer believed the traditional teachings of the church regarding homosexuality. The
Rev. Danny Cortez said members of New Heart Community Church and his own son, who
had recently come out as gay, had helped convince him that homosexuality is not a
sin. Read More →
TOPICS: EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTS AND EVANGELICALISM, GAY MARRIAGE AND
HOMOSEXUALITY
JUN 6, 2014 1:45 PM
Chart of the Week: How U.S. regained
all its lost jobs, but still fell behind
BY DREW DESILVER2 COMMENTS

42. According to today’s employment report, the U.S. finally — after six and a half years —
has more jobs than it did before the housing crash and subsequent global financial crisis
cratered the economy. After adjusting for seasonal variation, there were 138,463,000
nonfarm payroll jobs in May — surpassing the pre-recession peak of 138,365,000 in
January 2008.
But while the country may have climbed out of the deepest jobs hole since the
Depression, that hardly means everything is peachy. There are about 15
million more working-age people now than there were in January 2008, but essentially

43. the same number of jobs. Only 58.9% of the adult population is employed, four
percentage points below the level in January 2008. Read More →
CATEGORY: CHART OF THE WEEK
TOPICS: ECONOMIC RECESSION, NATIONAL ECONOMY
JUN 6, 2014 12:15 PM
Where World Cup footballers play
during the regular season
BY MICHAEL LIPKA AND CHRISTOPHER INKPEN4 COMMENTS
Some of the world’s best soccer players are gathered in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup,
which begins next week. But during the rest of the year, the 736 players who are
members of national teams play on club teams around the world in 53 different
countries.
Pew Research analyzed the final rosters for each of the 32 qualifying nations posted to
FIFA’s official website and found a total of 476 players (65%) who currently play for clubs in
countries outside of their World Cup nation. Think of them as “elite labor migrants,” many
of whom cross borders to play for higher salaries in front of bigger audiences. Read
More →
TOPICS: MIGRATION
JUN 6, 2014 7:00 AM
On D-Day anniversary, only 1 million
World War II veterans still alive
BY BRUCE DRAKELEAVE A COMMENT

44. U.S. WW II veteran Arden C. Earll, right, from Erie, Pennsylvania, who landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, with the 116th infantry
regiment, salutes along with other WWII veterans as part of the commemoration of the 70th D-Day anniversary. Credit: AP Photo/Remy de
la Mauviniere
President Obama marks the 70th
anniversary of the pivotal
invasion of Europe at a ceremony in Normandy, France, today to pay tribute to the 16
million Americans who served in World War II. The moment is a particularly special
one, given the dwindling ranks of the “greatest generation” whose members fought in
that costly battle.

45. Just over one million World War II veterans survive today, according to Veterans
Administration figures collected by The National WWII Museum.
When Ronald Reagan made his presidential pilgrimage to the battle site of Pointe du
Hoc in 1984 on the invasion’s 40th
anniversary, paying tribute to the American Ranger
team that took heavy casualties capturing a German-occupied cliff, there were still 10.7
million World War II veterans alive.
By the next decennial anniversary, the VA estimates that their numbers will be down to
81,117.
TOPICS: MILITARY AND VETERANS, WARS AND INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS
JUN 5, 2014 3:59 PM
Time Inc. spinoff reflects a troubled
magazine business
BY KATERINA EVA MATSALEAVE A COMMENT
Credit: Getty Images

46. On Friday, Time Inc. will officially become a
separate company, completing a spinoff from parent Time Warner that has been in the works
for over a year. With a portfolio of more than 70 overseas and 23 domestic magazines —
including Time, People and Sports Illustrated — Time Inc. has created a widely
renowned publishing brand. But over the past decade, it has also suffered from an
economic decline that reduced its revenues by 34% and cut its operating profit by 59%.
Time Inc.’s troubles are emblematic of the economic challenges facing the consumer
magazine industry. While the digital side of the business has been making some gains,
overall magazine print circulation (including single-copy sales, subscriptions and even
digital replicas) has been down each of the past six years, while the number of print ad
pages fell for the eighth year in a row in 2013. Read More →
TOPICS: MAGAZINES
JUN 5, 2014 1:14 PM
On TV, few amateur journalists get
credit for their contributions to the news
BY JESSE HOLCOMBLEAVE A COMMENT
Several television news organizations are relying on a significant amount of amateur
news footage in their broadcasts, but a new report reveals that they rarely credit the
citizen journalists who actually produce it.

47. The study from Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism examined the
handling of user-generated content (UGC) at eight international television networks and
their websites. And at a time when ordinary citizens are increasingly functioning as on-
scene reporters, nearly three-quarters (72%) of that amateur content that aired on these
television outlets was not identified as such. An even higher proportion of on-air footage
from amateur journalists—84%—did not have an on-screen credit identifying the source
of the material.
This analysis of how news organizations use
footage gathered by amateur journalists examined more than 1,100 hours of TV news
footage and more than 2,200 Web pages on the eight major global TV networks over a
21-day period in November-December 2013. They included Al Jazeera (Arabic and
English), BBC World, CNN International, euronews, France 24, NHK World and
Telesur. Unlabeled content was identified as such by researchers through cross-
referencing on social media and news agencies, as well as on-screen indicators such as
camera skill and production values.

48. In the period studied, the practice of crediting amateur news content—naming the
person who produced the footage—differed significantly by outlet. Researchers said
CNN International credited 53% of these outside contributions on its air, the highest
percentage of any outlet. Conversely, only 9% of the citizen content on BBC World was
credited while that number dipped to 1% on France 24. Read More →
TOPICS: FOREIGN NEWS, NEWS CONTENT ANALYSIS, NEWS MEDIA ETHICS AND PRACTICES, NEWS
MEDIA TRENDS,SOCIAL MEDIA, TELEVISION
JUN 5, 2014 7:00 AM
Generation X: America’s neglected
‘middle child’
BY PAUL TAYLOR AND GEORGE GAO31 COMMENTS
Generation X has a gripe with pulse takers, zeitgeist keepers and population counters.
We keep squeezing them out of the frame.
This overlooked generation currently ranges in age from 34 to 49, which may be one
reason they’re so often missing from stories about demographic, social and political
change. They’re smack in the middle innings of life, which tend to be short on drama
and scant of theme.
But there are other explanations that have nothing to do with their stage of the life cycle.
Gen Xers are bookended by two much larger generations – the Baby Boomers ahead and
the Millennials behind – that are strikingly different from one another. And in most of
the ways we take stock of generations – their racial and ethnic makeup; their political,
social and religious values; their economic and educational circumstances; their
technology usage – Gen Xers are a low-slung, straight-line bridge between two noisy
behemoths.
The charts below tell the tale. Read More →
TOPICS: DEMOGRAPHICS, GENERATIONS AND AGE, POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND VALUES
JUN 4, 2014 4:17 PM

49. Want a three-car garage? You’re more
likely to find it in the Midwest
BY DREW DESILVER1 COMMENT

50. The Census Bureau’s
recentreport on characteristics of newly built housing reveals lots of interesting regional

51. variations, beyond thewidely reported fact that median square footage of single-family
homes hasresumed its pre-housing crash climb.
For one, housing hasn’t grown evenly in all regions of the country. New homes are
largest in the South, where the median floor area last year was 2,469 square feet; they’re
smallest in the Midwest, at a median 2,177 square feet. (The median for the whole
country is 2,384 square feet.) But over the past four decades, home size has grown the
most in the Northeast: The median floor area of a new home there was 61% above the
corresponding median in 1973.
Last year, according to the Census data, fully a third of all newly completed houses in
the South were 3,000 square feet or more; in 1999, which is as far back as the report
goes, just 18% of new Southern homes were that big. Read More →
TOPICS: HOMEOWNERSHIP, U.S. CENSUS
JUN 4, 2014 1:29 PM
Are minority births the majority yet?
BY D’VERA COHN9 COMMENTS
Credit: Waltraud Grubitzsch/dpa/Corbis

52. Two years ago, the Census
Bureau announced the nation had reached a new demographic tipping point: The share
of U.S. babies who were a racial or ethnic minority had edged past the 50% mark for the
first time. The finding was widelycovered as a dramatic illustration of the agency’s
projections that the U.S. will become a majority-minority nation within three decades.
But that tipping point may not have arrived yet, according to preliminary 2013 birth
data released last week by the National Center for Health Statistics. The center’s
numbers indicate that non-Hispanic white mothers still account for 54% of births—as
they had in 2012 and 2011. Read More →
TOPICS: BIRTH RATE AND FERTILITY, DEMOGRAPHICS, U.S. CENSUS
JUN 3, 2014 11:25 AM
Less than half of Ukrainians support
economic aid from the West
BY BRUCE STOKES1 COMMENT

53. Ukraine will be at the top of the agenda
when the leaders of the G7 advanced economies meet later this week in Brussels. Their
deliberations are likely to focus on what their governments – Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – can do to bolster the newly
elected Ukrainian government in the face of continued violence by pro-Russian
sympathizers within the country. But the effectiveness of any such Western aid may
depend on fundamental reform of the Ukrainian economy, which is mired in
recession.Read More →
TOPICS: EASTERN EUROPE, FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND POLICY
JUN 3, 2014 7:00 AM
How America’s opinion of China has
changed since Tiananmen
BY RICHARD WIKE5 COMMENTS

54. Credit: AP Images
Twenty-five years ago, weeks of student led, pro-democracy demonstrations in China
ended when tanks rolled in to Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Thousands were
arrested, and estimates of the death toll range from several hundred to several
thousand.
At the time, America’s relationship with China was very different than it is today. Before
that event, the American public generally had a favorable view of China, and as the
Tiananmen protests unfolded, most Americans wanted to show support for the pro-
democracy movement. But in the years since, economic ties and economic competition
have become the dominant topics between the two nations, while at the same time the
relationship has become more distrustful. Read More →
TOPICS: CHINA, GLOBAL BALANCE OF POWER, PROTESTS AND UPRISINGS, WORLD ECONOMIES
JUN 2, 2014 2:38 PM
Syria’s neighbors give Assad the thumbs
down
BY BRUCE STOKES1 COMMENT

55. Credit: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is
running for re-election Tuesday, June 3, can be thankful his neighbors do not get to
vote. Strong majorities of the publics in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian territories,
Tunisia and Turkey and half the public in Lebanon voice a very unfavorable view of the
embattled Syrian leader, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. And most of
those surveyed want him to step down. It would appear that Assad’s predicted re-
election will do little to improve his relations with others in the region.

56. The Syrian presidential election takes place in a divided, war-torn, depopulated country.
The civil war that broke out in 2011 has claimed at least 150,000 lives. There are an
estimated 5 million displaced persons within Syria, and an additional 900,000 refugees in
Lebanon, 670,000 in Turkey, 600,000 in Jordan and 212,000 in Iraq. Large portions of
Syria are controlled by forces opposed to the Assad regime, and Syrians residing in those
regions will not participate in Tuesday’s vote. Read More →
TOPICS: SYRIA
JUN 2, 2014 9:00 AM
Top issue for Hispanics? Hint: It’s not
immigration
BY JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD18 COMMENTS
A broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws has been debated and discussed
among policy makers for a dozen years, but Congress has yet to pass a bill. Last month,
several Hispanic advocacy leaders criticized the president for policies that have
contributed to the more than three million immigrants deported since 2004. Yet now,
some Latino leaders are wondering if immigration reform is perhaps “crowding out other

57. issues facing the Latino community.”
Immigration reform “now occupies almost all the Latino policy agenda, sucking up, as
one colleague recently put it, all the oxygen on Latino issues,” according to a recent
commentary from Angelo Falcón, National Institute for Latino Policy president.
Indeed, when Pew Research Center has surveyed the Hispanic community, there are
several issues that consistently rank higher on the list than immigration. In 2013, some
57% of Hispanic registered voters called education an “extremely important” issue
facing the nation today. That’s compared with jobs and the economy (52%) and health
care (43%). Just 32% said immigration. Read More →
TOPICS: HISPANIC/LATINO VOTE, IMMIGRATION, POLITICAL ISSUE PRIORITIES
JUN 2, 2014 7:00 AM

58. EPA to propose power plant pollution
cuts, an idea the public has backed
BY BRUCE DRAKELEAVE A COMMENT
As part of the Obama administration strategy to deal with the challenge of climate
change, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to issue a new regulation today
aimed at cutting emissions from the nation’s coal-fueled power plants. The move is
likely to meet with political and industry opposition, but in general, the public favors the
idea of stricter limits on power plants.

59. The new EPA rule will
mandate cuts in carbon pollution by 30% by 2030 from levels that existed in
2005,according to the New York Times and other news reports. The Times called it “the
strongest action ever taken” by the government to fight climate change.
President Obama decided to go the route of issuing a regulation because he has little
chance of getting his climate change proposals past the Republican-controlled House.
Read More →
TOPICS: BARACK OBAMA, ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
MAY 30, 2014 2:14 PM
Four-in-Ten Pakistanis say honor killing
of women can be at least sometimes
justified
BY NEHA SAHGAL AND TIM TOWNSEND10 COMMENTS

60. Members of Pakistan’s civil society hold protest to condemn the killing of Farzana Parveen, a 25-year-old pregnant woman who was stoned to
death earlier this week. (Credit: AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for “immediate action” Thursday over
thestoning death of a pregnant 25-year-old woman in Lahore earlier this week. Farzana
Parveen’s murder, carried out by her family members because she married a man
without their consent, has shined a light on so-called “honor killing,” a practice in which
relatives end the lives of women and men who are said to bring shame to the family.
Sharif called Parveen’s death “totally
unacceptable,” but a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2011 found that the Prime
Minister’s position is unlikely to resonate with all Pakistanis.

61. Honor killings claim the lives of more than 1,000 Pakistani women every year,
according toa Washington Post story citing a Pakistani organization that advocates against
honor killings. In the last few years, honor killings in Pakistan have gained international
attention, with cases ranging from women refusing to enter into an arranged marriage,
seeking a divorce or having a pre- or extra-marital affair.
Read More →
MAY 30, 2014 12:29 P M
Chart of the Week: What top tech execs
have in common besides money
BY JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD4 COMMENTS
Click to view larger version. Credit: Mary Meeker
The U.S. tech landscape would look very different without immigrants, according to a
newinternet trends presentation by Mary Meeker, an influential tech analyst and venture

62. capitalist. Of the top 25 tech companies (by market capitalization), 60% have founders
who are immigrants or have at least one immigrant parent.
The chart uses a broad definition of first- or second-generation immigrants, but it brings
a fresh perspective and analysis to how we typically think about the impact of
immigrants to the United States. Meeker’s list includes some of the biggest names in
tech: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs (son of a Syrian immigrant, but raised by U.S.-born
adoptive parents), Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Brazilian immigrant) and
Google co-founder Sergey Brin (Russian immigrant). Read More →
CATEGORY: CHART OF THE WEEK
TOPICS: IMMIGRATION
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