Recent Publications

PewResearch.org features major reports, data-driven commentary and analysis, news stories, transcripts and presentations on trends in public opinion and related policy issues in the Pew Research Center's areas of special concentration: U.S. public opinion, global attitudes, the news media, the impact of the internet on American life, the role of religion in public life, the changing experiences of Hispanics in America and social and demographic trends.

When the material resides on project sites, summaries appear on the PewResearch.org site, with links to the full documents on the particular project web site. The archive of past reports and other features include material posted directly on pewresearch.org beginning in February 2006. Complete lists of all project reports and other features, including archives of material released prior to February 2006, can be found on the individual project websites.

Deaths of Michael Jackson and "Neda" Grip the Blogosphere
2 Jul 09In life, Michael Jackson and Neda Agha-Soltan had little in common. But together their deaths consumed the blogosphere and became emblematic of the flow and character of modern communication.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Too Much Michael?
1 Jul 09The public closely tracked the sudden death of pop superstar Michael Jackson last week, though nearly two-in-three Americans say news organizations gave the story too much coverage.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

From Protests to Pop
30 Jun 09The media swung their attention from the protests in Iran to the death of Michael Jackson with stops at Gov. Sanford and Farah Fawcett along the way.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality
29 Jun 09Getting old isn't nearly as bad as people think it will be. Nor is it quite as good. A new Pew Research social trends survey finds a sizeable gap between expectations and actual experiences.
Social & Demographic Trends

Obama's Favorite Theologian? A Short Course on Reinhold Niebuhr
26 Jun 09What is it about the famous public theologian that prompted Obama to describe him as one of his "favorite philosophers"?
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

140 Characters of Protest
25 Jun 09The unrest in Iran has demonstrated as never before the power and influence of social media.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Perils of Polling in Election '08
25 Jun 09Despite such challenges as a growing wireless-only population, possible racially-related response bias and greater-than-usual difficulties in forecasting turnout, polllsters' methods were evidently adequate to the task.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Iran's Interesting... For a Foreign Story
24 Jun 09The share of the public following the situation in Iran ranks near the top of recent international stories, excluding those directly involving the U.S., rivaling interest in the economy.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Pollwatch: Comparing the Polls on Spending and the Deficit
24 Jun 09How the question is phrased has a clear impact on whether the public rates deficit reduction or stimulus spending more important.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Who's Your Favorite Republican?
Romney's Ratings Up; Palin Still Polarizing
24 Jun 09While Sarah Palin is a GOP favorite, it is Mitt Romney who now enjoys a positive balance of opinion among the general public. Newt Gingrich remains a divisive figure and Michale Steele is still mostly unknown.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Iran's Revolutionary Coverage
23 Jun 09A substantial amount of mainstream press coverage of Iran discussed the impact of social media.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

About One-in-Six Americans Are Baptist
23 Jun 09A graphical representation of America's denominational distribution.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Can Science and Religion Co-Exist in Harmony?
22 Jun 09Two experts -- a geneticist and a religion writer and correspondent -- discuss why they believe the current perceived conflict between evolution and faith is unnecessary and destructive.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Public More Optimistic About the Economy, But Still Reluctant to Spend
19 Jun 09Increasingly, Americans express the view that the nation’s economy will improve in the next year, and a growing number also expect their personal finances to get better. But this has not caused people to open their wallets.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Political Extremism (at Home and Abroad) Dominates the Blogosphere
19 Jun 09Two events in the last week triggered an online debate about political extremism—one in Europe and one in Washington D.C. And the most-viewed news video on YouTube was the start of a feud between David Letterman and Sarah Palin.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Obama's High Ratings Hold Despite Some Policy Concerns
18 Jun 09A solid majority of Americans continue to approve of Barack Obama’s job performance, although they express mixed views of several of his policies. Only about one-in-five Americans (21%) say the U.S. is less safe from terrorism under the Obama administration than under the Bush administration
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Job Situation is Bad News
17 Jun 09While Americans say they are hearing more of a mix of good and bad news about prices, financial markets and real estate, news about jobs is seen as overwhelmingly bad.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Cockeyed Optimists or Self-Fulfilling Prophets?
17 Jun 09Even while their personal worries have deepened, Americans have been feeling more upbeat about the national economy's prospects and less concerned about rising inequality. What underlies this trend and can it be sustained?
Pew Research Center

Home Broadband Adoption 2009
17 Jun 09Strong growth among senior citizens and rural residents has pushed the number of Americans with high-speed internet connections to 63%, up from 55% in 2008. But African Americans experienced their second consecutive year of below-average broadband adoption growth.
Pew Internet & American Life Project

Vote Uncovers Forgotten Story: Iran
16 Jun 09Until last week, Iran had attracted less than half the media attention devoted to the threat posed by teenage Somali pirates this year.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Recession Pounds States' Budgets
15 Jun 09Stateline.org's legislative review finds state budgets in such dire straits that they are closing prisons in Colorado and Kansas, raising taxes on the rich in New York and even taxing bourbon in Kentucky -- and the worst is yet to come.
Special to the Pew Research Center

The State of Music Online: Ten Years after Napster
15 Jun 09While Napster morphed from its lawless larval stage to a dues-paying music service, consumers have had their pick of surviving free, peer-to-peer applications. And while the music industry has been on the front lines of the battle to convert freeloaders into paying customers, their efforts have been watched closely by other digitized industries.
Pew Internet & American Life Project

Shooting Sparks Abortion Debate Online
11 Jun 09Discussions surrounding the murder of George Tiller far outpaced Obama's Cairo speech and the economy online.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

The Shared Search for Health Information on the Internet
61% of American Adults Now Look Online for Medical Help
11 Jun 09While most Americans still turn to a doctor for health information, a growing number research and discuss medical issues on the internet. Fully 61% have gone online for health info -- up from 25% in 2000 -- and most report positive experiences. More adults are turning to the internet for fitness and exercise information as well.
Pew Internet & American Life Project

Different Stories, Different Audiences
Coverage of Obama Seen as Largely Fair
11 Jun 09Four-in-ten of those who watch Fox News regularly say that coverage of Obama has not been critical enough.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Obama's Trip Spotlights Middle East
Sotomayor Fades from the Headlines
9 Jun 09The president's speech focused attention on subjects -- Iraq, Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- which had received relatively little coverage this year.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Gen Next Squeezed By Recession, But Most See Better Times Ahead
Young Are More Liberal in Views of Gov’t, Traditional Values
5 Jun 09While the economic downturn is falling quite heavily on younger Americans, their overall outlook remains optimistic. A new survey also finds Generation Next expressing more liberal views when compared with older age cohorts as well as evidence of increased political engagement.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Brides, Grooms Often Have Different Faiths
5 Jun 09Buddhists and the religiously unaffiliated are the most likely to have a spouse or partner with a different religious background, while Mormons and Hindus are the least likely to marry or live with a partner outside their own faith.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Same-Sex Marriage Continues Blog Dominance
4 Jun 09Gay marriage has bubbled up again and again online in a debate often missing from the mainstream media.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

First Impressions of Sotomayor Mostly Positive
Press Coverage of Nomination Seen as Fair
4 Jun 09While a plurality of Americans say coverage of the nomination has been fair, Republicans are significantly more likely to say it has not been critical enough.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Sotomayor, and Race, Drive the News
40% of the Stories About the Judge Referenced Her Ethnicity
2 Jun 09Sotomayor was the first person to exceed Obama as the lead newsmaker since his inauguration; 40% of the stories about Sotomayor's nomination referenced her ethnicity.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Public Backs Affirmative Action, But Not Minority Preferences
2 Jun 09The public has generally been supportive of affirmative action programs, but is decidedly opposed to the idea of providing preferential treatment to minorities.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

California, Rappers and Fossils
29 May 09The conversation online looks nothing like the mainstream media.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Is Sotomayor the Court's First Hispanic?
28 May 09A look at how the government defines who is what origin-wise.
Pew Hispanic Center

Public Not That Into Terror Debate
Too Much Steroids and Flu News, Not Enough Pakistan
28 May 09While the media may love a political fight, Americans say they are following stories about money and health.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Global Pandemic, Global Coverage
28 May 09Turns out that coverage of the swine flu in the U.S. was actually less sensationalized than was media coverage in some other major nations.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Latino Children: A Majority Are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants
28 May 09Hispanics now make up 22% of all children under the age of 18 in the United States -- up from 9% in 1980 -- and as their numbers have grown, their demographic profile has changed.
Pew Hispanic Center

Most Middle-Aged Adults Are Rethinking Retirement Plans
The Threshold Generation
28 May 09In the midst of a recession that has taken a heavy toll on many nest eggs, just over half of all working adults ages 50 to 64 say they may delay their retirement -- and another 16% say they never expect to stop working.
Social & Demographic Trends

Beltway Battle Bumps Economy
27 May 09With a political-conflict narrative, terrorism -- almost untouched by the media last year -- has supplanted the recession as the top story.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Online Classifieds Climb
22 May 09The number of online adults to use classified ad websites, such as Craigslist, more than doubled from 2005 to 2009 devastating a key revenue source for traditional newspapers .
Pew Internet & American Life Project

Tortured Debate Online
21 May 09The polarizing issue of what defines torture again dominated social media last week but bloggers also focused on a Saudi judge's slap at women shoppers.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Court of Public Opinion Sides with Women on Empathy
21 May 09Obama says empathy is one of the qualities he'll be looking for in a new Supreme Court justice. Meantime, his White House has floated a list of possible nominees that's stacked heavily with women. Coincidence?
Pew Research Center

Independents Take Center Stage in the Obama Era
Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2009
21 May 09Centrism has emerged as a dominant factor in public opinion as the Obama administration begins. Republicans and Democrats are even more divided than in the past, while the growing political middle is steadfastly mixed in its beliefs about government, the free market and other values that underlie views on contemporary issues and policies. Both political parties have lost adherents since the election and an increasing number of Americans identify as independents.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

A Clash of Rights? Gay Marriage and the Free Exercise of Religion
20 May 09Although churches and other religious organizations, including charities and schools, have typically been exempt from state and local laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, it remains unclear how these institutions might be affected by new laws that require equal treatment for same-sex marriages.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Car Dealership Closings Draw Wide Attention
"American Idol" Still Gets Nation's Vote
20 May 09News about the car dealership closings is as big as last fall's bank failings. Also, who watches "Idol"?
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Politics Punctuate the Terrorism Debate
Pelosi and Cheney Help Fuel the Narrative
19 May 09The story was especially dominant on the ideological, debate-oriented talk shows on radio and prime-time cable.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Wide-Ranging Conversation Online
14 May 09While the mainstream media agenda was dominated by the economy and flu, bloggers talked up gay marriage, e-readers and botched photo-op.
Project for Excellence in Journalism

The Establishment Clause and Government Funding of Faith-Based Organizations
14 May 09Most legal scholars agree that the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits at least some government funding of religion, but they disagree sharply on exactly what is permissible.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Not Your Grandfather's Recession -- Literally
Different Ages, Different Downturns
14 May 09Relatively speaking, older Americans' attitudes and lifestyles have been less affected by the economic slump than have those of younger Americans. Meantime, the "Threshold Generation," people nearing retirement, have been hardest hit, as they’ve seen their nest eggs shrink the most.
Social & Demographic Trends

Public Sees Less Glum News About Economy
Swine Flu Interest High But Flagging
13 May 09Gender gaps emerge on top stories. Men follow the economy and Manny; women prefer the flu and first face transplant operation.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press