tagged w/ Pew Research Center
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Why is it so important to raise the debt ceiling? Jonathan Miller explains.
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ctv
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7 months ago
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A survey released Monday finds strong support for allowing openly gay and lesbian soldiers to serve in the military, but key groups that traditionally support Republicans oppose the idea.
The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, shows that 58% of adults favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, whereas 27% said they opposed allowing it. A majority of both men and women, as well as both Democrats and independents also support allowing open service.
Currently, gays and lesbians are permitted to serve in the military under the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy only if they do not publicly reveal their sexuality.
According the poll, Republicans are divided on whether to allow open service by gays and lesbians -- 40% of Republicans favor it and 44% oppose. Perhaps as important, key groups likely to have an influence on Republican policies are even more opposed to allowing open service. The Pew report notes that among those who said they "agree with the Tea Party" only 38% favor and 48% oppose allowing open servece. Similarly, only 34% of white evangelical Protestants favor and 48% oppose allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. Lack of Republican support could prevent the Obama administration from ending the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, especially if Congress doesn't vote on ending the policy before the end of this year's lame-duck session.
Ending the policy during a lame-duck session may not be popular even if a majority do support repeal, however -- a recent McClatchy Company poll by Marist College found that registered voters were divided on repealing the policy during the current Congress, with 47% saying the current Democratic Congress should repeal the policy and 48% saying they should not repeal it "so they continue to serve but not openly." Another recent poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal found that 50% of adults supported allowing open service but 48% either supported continuing the current policy or not permitting service at all when explicitly offered those options.
The Pew poll was conducted Nov. 4-7 among 1,255 adults, and had a 3.5% margin of error. Results among subgroups have a higher margin of error.A survey released Monday finds strong support for allowing openly gay and lesbian... more
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Less than half are against same-sex marriage, poll finds
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/06/poll.gay.marriage/index.html?hpt=T1
Fewer than half of Americans oppose gay marriage, poll finds
By the CNN Wire Staff
October 6, 2010 9:56 p.m. EDT
For the first time since Pew started asking about it, fewer than half of those polled said they oppose gay marriage.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* For the first time in Pew poll's history, fewer than half oppose legal gay marriage
* More Americans continue to oppose gay marriage than support it
* Poll finds significant shifts in public opinion on the issue since last year
(CNN) -- Fewer than half of Americans oppose legalized same-sex marriage, according to a new poll on the issue released Wednesday, with significant shifts in public opinion on the issue just since last year.
More Americans continue to oppose gay marriage than support it, according to the poll, which was released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. But for the first time since Pew starting asking about same sex marriage 15 years ago, fewer than half of those polled said they oppose legalizing the institution.
The poll revealed other firsts. For the first time since Pew began asking about the issue, more white mainline Protestants and white Catholics favor gay marriage than oppose it.
"The shift in opinion on same-sex marriage has been broad-based, occurring across many demographic, political and religious groups," Pew's polling analysis said.
The analysis noted that political independents, who were opposed to gay marriage by a wide margin just last year, are now divided on the issue.
The poll -- which combines two surveys conducted from July to September of this year -- found that 42 percent of Americans favor same-sex marriage, while 48 percent oppose it.
In polls conducted in 2009, 37 percent favored gay marriage while 54 percent were opposed, Pew said.
"The public continues to be far more supportive of gays and lesbians serving openly in the military than of allowing legal same-sex marriages," the Pew's polling analysis notes.
Sixty percent of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, while 30 percent oppose it. Support for gays serving openly in the military has remained fairly stable over the last five years, Pew said.
On gay marriage, the new poll found significant differences of opinions along age, racial and partisan lines.
Americans in the so-called Millennial Generation -- those born after the 1980s -- favor gay marriage by 53 percent to 39 percent, the poll found. Among those born between 1928 and 1945, just 29 percent favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, while 59 percent are opposed.
Among Democrats, 53 percent support legalized gay marriage, while just 24 percent of Republicans do.
And while whites are evenly divided over gay marriage, the poll found, blacks oppose legalizing the institution by a wide margin.Less than half are against same-sex marriage, poll finds... more
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I've debated hundreds of religious people over their preferred Tome of Enlightenment™ and found it interesting that a new poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life validates my own anecdotal evidence - that some of the most pious are also some of the most ignorant of their own religion.I've debated hundreds of religious people over their preferred Tome of... more
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By Stephanie Chen, CNN
June 4, 2010 3:29 p.m. EDT
Photo: Priya Merrill, 27, and husband Andrew Merrill, 30, married in August. They are part of a growing trend of interracial marriages.
(CNN) -- The first time Priya Merrill, who is Indian, brought her white boyfriend home for Thanksgiving in 2007, the dinner was uncomfortable and confusing. She still remembers her family asking if Andrew was the bartender or a family photographer.
The couple married last August, and her Indian family has warmed up to her husband despite their racial differences.
"I think we get the best of both cultures," said Merrill, 27, of New York. She added, "Sometimes I just forget that we're interracial. I don't really think about it."
Asian. White. Black. Hispanic. Do race and ethnicity matter when it comes to marriage?
Apparently, race is mattering less these days, say researchers at the Pew Research Center, who report that nearly one out of seven new marriages in the U.S. is interracial or interethnic. The report released Friday, which interviewed couples married for less than a year, found racial lines are blurring as more people choose to marry outside their race.
"From what we can tell, this is the highest [percentage of interracial marriage] it has ever been," said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer for the Pew Research Center.
He said interracial marriages have soared since the 1980s. About 6.8 percent of newly married couples reported marrying outside their race or ethnicity in 1980. That figure jumped to about 14.6 percent in the Pew report released this week, which surveyed newlyweds in 2008.
From what we can tell, this is the highest [level of interracial marriage] it has ever been.
--Jeffrey Passel, Pew senior demographer
Couples pushing racial boundaries have become commonplace in the U.S., a trend that is also noticeable in Hollywood and politics. President Obama is the product of a black father from Africa and a white mother from Kansas. Supermodel Heidi Klum, who is white, married Seal, a British singer who is black.
But not everyone is willing to accept mixed-race marriages. A Louisiana justice of the peace resigned late last year after refusing to marry an interracial couple.
However, studies show that support for interracial marriages is stronger than in the past, especially among the Millennial generation. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, about 85 percent accept interracial marriages, according to a Pew study published in February. Scholars say interracial marriages are important to examine because they can be a barometer for race relations and cultural assimilation.
Today's growing acceptance of interracial marriages is a contrast to the overwhelming attitudes 50 years ago that such marriage was wrong -- and even illegal. During most of U.S. history, interracial marriages have been banned or considered taboo, sociologists say.
In 1958, a woman of black and Native American descent named Mildred Jeter had married a white man, Richard Loving. The couple married in Washington, D.C., instead of their home state of Virginia, where state laws outlawed interracial marriages. The couple was arrested by police. Their case made its way to the Supreme Court in the case Loving vs. Virginia in 1967, where the justices unanimously ruled that laws banning interracial marriages were unconstitutional.
In the decades after the court's ruling, the U.S. population has been changed by an unprecedented influx of immigrants. The growing numbers of immigrants, said Pew researchers, is partially responsible for the increase in interracial marriages.
The Pew Center study released Friday found that marrying outside of one's race or ethnicity is most common among Asians and Hispanics, two immigrant groups that have grown tremendously. About 30 percent of Asian newlyweds in the study married outside of their race, and about a quarter of Hispanic newlyweds reported marrying someone of another race.
David Chen, 26, of Dallas, Texas, is Taiwanese. He is planning a wedding with his fiancee, Sylvia Duran, 26, who is Mexican. He says race isn't an issue, but parts of their culture do play a role in their relationship. They will probably have a traditional Chinese tea ceremony at their wedding.
"The thing that we really focus on is our values and family values," instead of their race, he said. "We both like hard work, and we really put a focus on education."
The African-American population also saw increases in interracial marriage, with the number of blacks participating in such marriages roughly tripling since 1980, the study said. About 16 percent of African-Americans overall are in an interracial marriage, but researchers point out a gender difference: It's more common for black men to marry outside of their race than for black women.
The gender difference was the reverse in the Asian population surveyed. Twice as many newlywed Asian women, about 40 percent, were married outside their race, compared with Asian men, at about 20 percent.
"We are seeing an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic country," said Andrew Cherlin, professor of public policy and sociology at Johns Hopkins University. "The change in our population is bringing more people into contact with others who aren't like them."
The Pew Center also found education and residency affected whether people married interracially, with college-educated adults being more likely to do so. More people who live in the West marry outside their race than do people in the Midwest and South, the survey found.
Cherlin explained why education has helped bridge various races and ethnic groups: With more minorities attending college, education, rather than race, becomes a common thread holding couples together.
"If I'm a college graduate, I am going to marry another graduate," Cherlin said. "It's of secondary importance if that person is my race."
We are seeing an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic country.
--Andrew Cherlin, professor at Johns Hopkins University
Technology is also making it easier for people to date outside their races, said Sam Yagan, who founded OkCupid.com, a free Internet dating site. He said his site, which receives 4 million unique visitors a month, has seen many interracial relationships result from people using its services.
Adriano Schultz, 26, who is Brazilian, met his wife, Theresa, who is white, through the site in 2006. A year later, the couple married.
"I don't feel as if ethnicity for us was a big issue," said Schultz, of Indiana. "It was more about personalities and having things in common that really drove us together."
Yagan attributes the increase in interracial relationships to the Internet, which makes it easier to connect with someone of a different race. People who live in a community where race is an issue can meet someone of another race more privately, than say, instead of having to start their relationship in a public setting.
"You don't have to worry about what your friends are going to think," he said. "You can build the early parts of the relationship."By Stephanie Chen, CNN
June 4, 2010 3:29 p.m. EDT
Photo: Priya Merrill, 27, and... more
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YPNation contributor Tay Wiles takes a look at a Pew study that surveyed corporate executives' perceptions on climate change and energy use:
"The report, which is a product of the Pew Research Center’s Global Climate Change project, highlights results from a 65-question survey on perceptions of climate change and efforts to reduce energy use that Pew conducted with 100 companies. A few of the success stories include IBM, Dow Chemical, Toyota, PepsiCo and Best Buy, which estimates that in 2008 its sales of EPA Energy Star products saved customers $90 million in electricity bills. Toyota holds “treasure hunts” periodically, during which its employees scrutinize plant procedures in search of opportunities to be more energy efficient. Dow estimates that efforts toward energy efficiency since 1994 have saved the company $8.6 billion."
Read more: http://www.ypnation.net/big-business-evolving-response-global-climate-changesYPNation contributor Tay Wiles takes a look at a Pew study that surveyed corporate... more
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By Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger
In his first State of the Union address, President Barack Obama touched on climate issues only briefly. He called on the Senate to pass a climate bill, but did not give Congress a deadline or promise to veto weak legislation. Nor did he mention the Copenhagen climate conference, where international negotiators struggled to produce an agreement on limiting global carbon emissions.
The Obama administration’s attitude towards climate change still represents a remarkable shift from the Bush years, when global warming was treated as little more than a fairy tale. But in the past year, Congressional squabbling has stalled climate legislation, and international negotiators nearly gridlocked in talks over carbon admissions at the multinational Copenhagen conference. Without strong leadership from the president, work to prevent this looming environmental crisis will stall.
Obama did address global warming skeptics, saying that they should support investment in clean energy, “because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy.”
“And America must be that nation,” Obama said.
No push for climate bill
Despite his combative language, the president did not challenge Congress to push for real solutions to ballooning carbon emissions and energy consumption. As Forrest Wilder of The Texas Observer notes, Obama “uttered the phrase ‘climate change’ precisely once.”
The Senate has already wait-listed the climate bill: Health care came first. With health care reform now in line behind work on jobs and bank regulation, climate legislation has little chance of passing the Senate in the coming months, let alone making it to the president’s desk.
If Congress lets this work wait until after the midterm elections, the United States will show up at international negotiations in December 2010 as a leader in carbon emissions yet again, but with little in hand to show a way forward.
Clean energy, not renewable energy
When the president did bring up climate issues, he focused on their connection between climate reform and potential job creation. Obama highlighted areas for growth, not in renewable energy fields like wind or solar power, but in nuclear power, natural gas, and clean coal.
Yes, these fuel sources could decrease the country’s carbon emissions. But they are not solutions that will revolutionize energy production. Grist’s David Roberts was floored that the speech omitted renewable energy entirely and kowtowed to a more conservative litany of energy projects. “I suppose it was done to flatter conservative Senators that will have to vote for the bill Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham are working on,” he writes. (The three Senators are working on a version of the climate bill designed to appeal to Republicans.)
“But the SOTU is not a policy negotiation,” Roberts says. “It’s a bully pulpit, a chance to shape rather than respond to existing narratives.”
Roberts argues that progressive supporters would benefit from a stronger message. If activists knew that the White House stands behind a real shift in America’s energy policy, they could use that prompt to drive action on climate change.
What was missing
While touting the virtues of off-shore drilling, Obama overlooked other policies that could broker real change. Although he admonished Congress to pass a climate bill, he did not pressure the legislature on what he’d like that bill to include. He did not mention cap-and-trade, the mechanism the House bill relies on to tamp down emissions and dirty energy use.
President Obama did touch on transportation reforms that could decrease the country’s use of fossil fuels.
“There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains,” Obama said. He cited a high-speed rail project that broke ground on Tuesday in Tampa, FL, as evidence that America could best the rest of the world in creating new energy-efficient technology.
But one or two high-profilBy Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger
In his first State of the Union address,... more
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Editor & Publisher has been sold, and its new owners plan to shift the focus out of the newsroom and towards business and technology in the industry. They've even shut down the popular newsroom blog, where journalists, editors and other industry insiders could hold discussions on how the industry is struggling and evolving. But YPNation contributor Genevieve Long is troubled by this decision:
"From a business angle, it is only natural to seek a niche on the Internet. McIntosh might think they can do this by taking the tech-business savvy angle and backing off on newsroom action. Yes, of course that makes sense--E&P's audience of mostly journalists, editors, and publishers never set foot in a newsroom.
The decision-makers at McIntosh might benefit from checking out a recent study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism that illuminates just how important the information that comes out of newsrooms is to the public. And thus, how important the life of the newsroom is to industry professionals. In fact, the newsroom and economic survival go hand-in-hand.
Among the most key findings of the study was that the majority of new information comes from traditional sources, and that new media, with which the new E&P is so enamored, plays only a limited role in disseminating information."
Read more: http://bit.ly/6BFtMJEditor & Publisher has been sold, and its new owners plan to shift the focus out... more
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http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/quiz/index.php
Not in depth, but a nice 12 question spread. Please take it and I hope current users can push the bell curve a bit. Looking at the results, it needs pushing.http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/quiz/index.php
Not in depth, but a nice 12... more
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For the past two years, centrism has dominated Americans' political views. That's the conclusion of the latest survey, released Thursday, from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Pew President Andy Kohut says the number of people reporting that they are political independents reached a 70-year high, but there was little movement regarding people's values. That's even though President Obama's election marked a watershed moment for the United States.
"Even though it was a big Democratic win and the Republicans are in free-fall, there's no sign of an ideological shift," Kohut tells NPR's Melissa Block. "Values are pretty much the same. It's not like the mid-'90s, when we were showing the public becoming more conservative, or the beginning of this decade, showing the public was more partisan. Public remains pretty much where it was two years ago on very basic values."
Of the independents surveyed, more described themselves as "leaning" Democratic than Republican (17 percent vs. 12 percent.) But in surveys conducted this year, 33 percent of independents described their views as conservative, up from 28 percent in 2007 and 26 percent in 2005, according to Pew.
Kohut says this just means that independent voters are "unbalanced centrists" — they tend to have conservative views about government and regulation, and more liberal views regarding the hot-button social issues, national security and religion, he says.
He also says African-Americans reported having a more positive view of American society than they did two years ago. Sixty-two percent of African Americans — vs. 40 percent two years ago — say the country can solve its problems, Kohut says.
"Among whites, there's an even larger percentage saying that African-Americans are making progress," he says.
But the biggest surprise for Kohut was people's attitudes toward business and the free market, and Wall Street. He says they haven't changed "all that much" in two years.
"The public continues to think that business is what continues to make this country successful," he says. "They are very reluctant about regulation. This is mostly the views of Republicans, but independents joined them in this perception — some Democrats, but less often Democrats."For the past two years, centrism has dominated Americans' political views.... more
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asherp
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2 years ago
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Americans grow happier as they age, surveys find. And a new Pew Research Center survey shows the tendency is holding up as the economy tanks.
Happiness is a complex thing. Past studies have found that happiness is partly inherited, that Republicans are happier than Democrats, and that old men tend to be happier than old women.
And even before the economy got nasty, seniors were found to be generally happier than Baby Boomers. Some of that owes to the American Dream being lived by past generations, while Boomers work two jobs and watch the dream wither.
In times like this, it's clear how age can have its advantages. While not all seniors are weathering the recession well, for many the impact is much less severe than it is for younger people.Americans grow happier as they age, surveys find. And a new Pew Research Center survey... more
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The Fox News Channel has taken out an ad in Monday's Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and trade publication Multichannel News highlighting recent findings from a study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which found that Fox News' audience is more balanced along party lines than either CNN's or MSNBC's.The Fox News Channel has taken out an ad in Monday's Washington Post, Wall Street... more
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An eye-opening article on public awareness of the war in Iraq - the news coverage we never see and the casualties we never hear about.
A study at the Pew Research center found that in its most recent polling only 28% of people polled accurately answered the following question regarding US casualties in Iraq -
"Since the start of military action in Iraq, about how many U.S. military personnel have been killed? To the best of your knowledge have there been 2000, 3000, 4000 [or] 5000 troop deaths?"
The correct answer would have been 4000. The Dept. of Defense has confirmed 3,974 deaths - 13 are pending confirmation.
So... what would you have said???An eye-opening article on public awareness of the war in Iraq - the news coverage we... more
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