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May 29, 2013 - Mothers are now the sole or primary provider in 40% of households with children, up from just 11% in 1960. The public is conflicted about the gains women have made in the workplace, applauding the economic benefits, but also voicing concerns about the impact on children and marriage.
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May 08, 2013 - National rates of gun homicide and other violent gun crimes are strikingly lower now than during their peak in the mid-1990s, paralleling a general decline in violent crime, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data.
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Apr 12, 2013 - As April 15 approaches, a majority of Americans (56%) have a negative reaction to doing their income taxes, with 26% saying they hate doing them. However, about a third (34%) say they either like (29%) or love (5%) doing their taxes.
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Apr 08, 2013 - Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success, according to a comprehensive new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center.
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Apr 04, 2013 - For the first time in more than four decades of polling on the issue, a majority of Americans favor legalizing the use of marijuana. A national survey finds that 52% say that the use of marijuana should be made legal while 45% say it should not.
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Mar 14, 2013 - Dads are doing more housework and child care; moms more paid work outside the home. Neither has overtaken the other in their "traditional" realms, but their roles are converging, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of long-term data on time use.
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Mar 04, 2013 - The reaction on Twitter to major political events and policy decisions often differs a great deal from public opinion as measured by surveys. This is the conclusion of a year-long Pew Research Center study that compared the results of national polls to the tone of tweets in response to eight major news events, including the outcome of the presidential election, the first presidential debate and major speeches by Barack Obama.
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Feb 28, 2013 - A survey of teachers who instruct American middle and secondary school students finds that digital technologies have become central to their teaching and professionalization. At the same time, the internet, mobile phones, and social media have brought new challenges to teachers, and they report striking differences in access to the latest digital technologies between lower and higher income students and school districts.
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Jan 31, 2013 - With an aging population and a generation of young adults struggling to achieve financial independence, the burdens and responsibilities of middle-aged Americans are increasing.
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Jan 10, 2013 - Despite an election focusing on polarizing issues, the public now perceives less conflict between the rich and poor, immigrants and non-immigrants, and young and old.
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Nov 20, 2012 - In 2011, 4.2 million adults were newly married, about the same number as in 2010 and sharply lower than the 4.5 million newlyweds estimated in 2008.
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Nov 07, 2012 - The minority groups that carried President Obama to victory yesterday by giving him 80% of their votes are on track to become a majority of the nation's population by 2050, according to Pew Research. They currently make up 37% of the population, and they cast a record 28% of the votes in the 2012 presidential election.
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Nov 05, 2012 - In 2012, for the first time ever, one-third of the nation's 25 to 29-year-olds have completed at least a bachelor's degree. College completion is also now at record levels among key demographic groups, reports the Pew Research Center.
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Nov 05, 2012 - In 2012, for the first time ever, one-third of the nation's 25 to 29-year-olds have completed at least a bachelor's degree. College completion is also now at record levels among key demographic groups, according to Pew Research Center analysis.
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Oct 22, 2012 - Despite a slowly improving economy, about four-in-ten adults (38%) say they are not confident that they will have enough income and assets for their retirement, up from 25% at the end of the Great Recession in 2009, according to the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends.
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Sep 26, 2012 - The Pew Research Center finds that student debt has increased in nearly every demographic and economic category since 2007, as has the size of that debt. The burden of student debt is greatest for the young and the poor.
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Sep 20, 2012 - With the national conversation focused on class, the social safety net and the distribution of wealth, recent Pew Research Center surveys find that the public sees clear differences between Obama and Romney on these issues. Still, aspects of both candidates' arguments resonate with the public.
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Sep 13, 2012 - Fully 46% of internet users post original photos and videos online and 41% curate photos and videos on image-sharing sites. Women are more likely than men to use Pinterest, while Instagram and Tumblr attract equal shares of men and women, according to a new Pew Research Center study.
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Sep 12, 2012 - In the two years since the end of the Great Recession, the decrease in median household income almost exactly equaled that of the recession, according to a new Pew Research Center report. The current 'recovery' is the worst for household income for any post-recession period in decades.
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Sep 11, 2012 - One in three Americans now says they are part of the lower or lower-middle classes, compared with one in four Americans who identified as such four years ago. More people under age 30, Hispanics, and whites self-identify in these categories.
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Sep 11, 2012 - Fully 45% of American adults own smartphones, including 66% of those ages 18-29 and 68% of those living in households earning $75,000 or more, according to a new Pew Research Center study.
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Sep 07, 2012 - Americans do not rate their personal finances any better -or worse - than they did when Barack Obama took office nearly four years ago, according to a new analysis from the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project. And while income is a major factor in people's vi
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Aug 31, 2012 - Americans believe that having a secure job is by far the most important requirement for being in the middle class, easily trumping homeownership and a college education, according to a new nationwide survey. The public's view about what it takes to be in the middle class appears to have changed dramatically over the past two decades.
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Aug 27, 2012 - A new survey finds that many Americans believe the rich are different than other people. The gap between the rich and the poor goes far beyond income, as adults who identify as upper or upper-middle class are generally happier, healthier, more satisfied with their jobs and optimistic about the country's economic future.
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Aug 24, 2012 - Do your views align more with Republicans, Democrats or Independents? Answer 12 questions in a new Pew Research Center quiz to learn where you fit on the political spectrum, just in time for the party conventions. Explore how you compare to other Americans by age, gender, race and religion.
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Aug 22, 2012 - Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth and shed some -- but by no means all -- of its characteristic faith in the future. A new Pew Research Center report explores how middle-class Americans view themselves, as well as their outlook on the future and on the presidential candidates who are courting their votes.
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Aug 07, 2012 - The Census wants to address the mismatch between Americans' identity and the current categories presented on their questionnaires.
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Aug 01, 2012 - Upper- and lower-income Americans are more likely now than 30 years ago to live in economically segregated neighborhoods, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of census tract and household income data. Residential segregation by income has risen in 27 of the nation's 30 largest metropolitan areas since 1980
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Jun 19, 2012 - According a comprehensive nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center, Asian Americans are the best-educated, highest-income, fastest growing race group in the country. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success.
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Jun 05, 2012 - As Japan considers restarting its nuclear reactors for the summer, 70% of Japanese say their country should reduce its reliance on nuclear energy. The Japanese also express widespread dissatisfaction with the government's performance handling the crisis and the overall recovery.
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Jun 04, 2012 - As Americans head to the polls this November, their values and basic beliefs are more polarized along partisan lines than at any point in the past 25 years, according to the 2012 Pew Research Center Values Survey. The values gap between Republicans and Democrats is now greater than gender, age, race or class divides.
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May 29, 2012 - What started out as a European debt crisis has now become a full-blown crisis of public confidence in the European economy, membership in the European Union, the euro, and the free market system, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. Greeks and Germans are at polar opposites in support for an integrated Europe.
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May 17, 2012 - The nation’s racial and ethnic minority groups—especially Hispanics—are growing more rapidly than the non-Hispanic white population, fueled by both immigration and births. This trend has been taking place for decades, and one result is the Census Bureau’s announcement today that non-Hispanic whites now account for a minority of births in the U.S. for the first time.
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May 17, 2012 - The issue of costs and rising student debt have touched off a national debate about the cost and value of a college education. See the results of our surveys on what the public thinks of investing in a college education.
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May 15, 2012 - A new study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that polls conducted by telephone have struggled with lower response rates in recent years, but they continue to provide accurate data on most political, social and economic measures.
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May 14, 2012 - Roughly half of Americans (52%) say President Obama's public support for gay marriage did not affect their opinion of him. The president said he came to his decision after a long consideration. The public's view of gay marriage has evolved, with growing support.
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May 10, 2012 - President Obama announced his support for gay marriage this week after a long consideration saying his views were "evolving." The public's view of gay marriage has changed over the past several decades, with growing support. In 1996, Americans opposed gay marriage by 65% to 27%, but the public is more evenly divided today.
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May 02, 2012 - There’s been a recent surge of interest in the topic of whether and how the poor economy has an impact on divorce rates. As with marriage rates and the economic downturn, the evidence is not clear-cut. One complication is that the quality of data about divorce is uneven.
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Apr 30, 2012 - A year after the death of its leader, al Qaeda is widely unpopular among Muslim publics. Majorities in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey and Lebanon expressed negative views of the terrorist group.
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Apr 26, 2012 - The Census Bureau plans to take a big step into the world of digital data collection starting in January, offering more than 3 million households that receive the American Community Survey each year the option to respond online for the first time.
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Apr 25, 2012 - Opinions about a pair of contentious social issues, gun control and gay marriage, have changed substantially since previous presidential campaigns. On gun control, Americans have become more conservative; on gay marriage, they have become more liberal.
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Apr 19, 2012 - In a reversal of traditional gender roles, young women now surpass young men in the importance they place on having a high-paying career or profession. The past 15 years have also seen an increase in the share of middle-aged and older women who say being successful in a high-paying career or profession is important in their lives.
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Apr 13, 2012 - Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen's comment this week about Ann Romney's lack of work experience has put the "mommy wars" back in the news. The Pew Research Center has done many surveys in recent years that provide background on public attitudes about issues related to women, work and motherhood.
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Apr 02, 2012 - After a 72-year wait required by law, the National Archives has released individual records from the 1940 Census, opening a gold mine for people researching their family histories. In addition to traditional methods, this census was the first to use a sample of randomly selected respondents in order to add more questions without burdening the entire population.
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Mar 30, 2012 - The controversy over the killing of Trayvon Martin has highlighted a range of issues that include treatment of blacks by local police departments, the state of race relations in the U.S. and news coverage of African Americans. Surveys by the Pew Research Center in recent years found that African Americans have had markedly different perceptions than whites when it came to these subjects.
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Mar 29, 2012 - While the advantage enjoyed by Democratic presidential candidates among women has a long history, Barack Obama's advantages over his GOP rivals in this year's campaign are striking. Women favor Obama over Mitt Romney by 20 points and over Rick Santorum by 26 points. When it comes to the parties, 51% of women identify with the Democrats compared to 42% of men.
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Mar 26, 2012 - As the Supreme Court hears arguments this week about the 2010 Affordable Care Act, surveys show that the public remains divided over the basic law. However, majorities continue to oppose the key element of the bill before the Court this week -- the requirement that all Americans buy health insurance or face a penalty.
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Mar 19, 2012 - As gas prices rise, the public's energy priorities are showing signs of change. More Americans continue to see development of alternative energy sources as a higher priority than increased production of oil, coal and natural gas, but the gap has narrowed since a year ago. Support for allowing more offshore oil drilling, which plummeted during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, are back at pre-spill levels.
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Mar 15, 2012 - Most young adults who are still living with their parents or who moved back home temporarily in recent years because of economic hard times do not see a stigma in staying with their families. More than three-quarters of them say they are satisfied with their living arrangements and upbeat about their financial futures. One reason for this upbeat view may be that living with parents has become such a widespread phenomenon.
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Mar 01, 2012 - While 18% of Americans say President Obama or his administration are most to blame for the surge in gasoline prices, about as many (14%) volunteer the oil companies or domestic oil producers. Roughly one-in-ten (11%) mostly blame Iran, the upheaval in the Middle East or the threat of war in the region.
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Mar 01, 2012 - Most Americans generally think that colleges and universities have a positive impact on the country and a large majority of graduates say a higher education was worth the investment. However, conservative Republicans -- especially supporters of the Tea Party -- are more skeptical of whether colleges have a positive effect.
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Feb 16, 2012 - The share of new marriages between spouses of a different race or ethnicity increased to 15.1% in 2010, and the share of all current marriages that are either interracial or interethnic has reached an all-time high of 8.4%. While intermarried newlyweds share several characteristics, there are differences based on the race, ethnicity and gender partnerships of the couples. As intermarriage has become more common, public acceptance of it has grown.
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Feb 09, 2012 - A plurality of Americans believes young adults are having the toughest time of any age group in today's economy, and even more of the public says young people are finding it harder to pay for college, find a job, buy a home or save for the future than it was for their parents' generation. In spite of the hardships young adults face, their long-term economic optimism remains unscarred.
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Feb 07, 2012 - More than a third of Americans get their information about the presidential campaign from cable news, making it the one constant in the media environment over the past four elections. By contrast, the decline continues in the number of people getting campaign information from local and network TV news, and local newspapers. Despite the rise in social media,sites like Facebook and Twitter are used for by a relatively limited audience for campaign information.
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Feb 07, 2012 - As courts and legislatures address the question of whether same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry, surveys conducted in recent years have shown that public support for gay marriage continues to grow.
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Jan 12, 2012 - Many Americans made use of the text messaging feature on their mobile phones to make contributions to disaster recovery efforts in Haiti after it was struck by a devastating earthquake in January 2010. The first in-depth study of mobile donors explores who the donors were and what motivated them to contribute.
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Jan 11, 2012 - The Occupy Wall Street movement no longer occupies Wall Street, but the issue of class conflict has captured a growing share of the national consciousness. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that two-thirds of the public believes there are "very strong" or "strong" conflicts between the rich and the poor -- an increase of 19 percentage points since 2009.
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Dec 28, 2011 - A new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that perceptions of capitalism – and even of socialism – have changed little since early 2010, despite the recent Occupy Wall Street protests and public attention directed at what organizers see as the excesses of America’s free market system.
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Dec 23, 2011 - Religiously active Americans are more tied to many civic and other organizations than non-religious Americans. Many report that their use of technology helps them in their group activities.
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Dec 22, 2011 - The number of women serving on active duty in the military has risen dramatically since the all-volunteer force was established in 1973. A new Pew Research Center study profiles the women who serve and looks at some of the ways they differ from men in the service.
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Dec 20, 2011 - Two kinds of digital communication that are popular in the United States -- texting with cell phones and use of social networks -- are also popular in many places around the world. Text messaging has become a global phenomenon and use of social networks is popular, especially in wealthier nations that have higher rates of internet access.
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Dec 14, 2011 - People looking for information about local restaurants and other businesses say they rely on the internet, especially search engines, ahead of any other source. Newspapers, both printed copies and the websites of newspaper companies, run second behind the internet as the source that people rely on for this information.
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Dec 14, 2011 - As the remaining U.S. troops prepare to leave Iraq by the end of the year, the public is overwhelmingly supportive of the pullout. A roundup of Pew Research findings related to the war also examines public opinion on the U.S. intervention, the war's impact on the veterans who served there, and the downward trend in public awareness of the conflict over the years.
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Dec 14, 2011 - In 1960, 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were married; today just 51% are, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data. The median age at first marriage has never been higher for brides (26.5 years) and grooms (28.7), and the number of new marriages in the U.S. declined by 5% between 2009 and 2010.
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Dec 08, 2011 - While more than seven-in-ten veterans (72%) report they had an easy time readjusting to civilian life, 27% say re-entry was difficult for them—a proportion that swells to 44% among post-9/11 veterans, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey of 1,853 veterans.
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Dec 01, 2011 - There has been a modest increase over the past two years in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence of global warming, although substantially fewer Americans now hold that view than did so from 2006 to 2008. A large partisan and ideological gap continues to exists in opinions about the evidence for global warming and how serious a problem it presents.
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Nov 23, 2011 - There is a large generation gap between older and younger Americans when it comes to having family members who served in the military. More than three-quarters of adults over 50 said they had an immediate family member who had served in the military. Less than six-in-ten adults ages 30 to 49 have an immediate family member who served and the percentage falls to one-third for adults under 29.
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Nov 22, 2011 - The Census Bureau's new alternative measure of poverty assumes that cohabiting couples pool funds and share expenses just as married couples do instead of counting people who live together as separate individuals. The result: A lower share of cohabiting couples is considered poor under the alternative metric than under the official measure.
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Nov 17, 2011 - American values differ from those of Western Europeans in many important ways. Most notably, Americans are more individualistic and are less supportive of a strong safety net than are the publics of Spain, Britain, France and Germany. However, Americans are coming closer to Europeans in not seeing their culture as superior to that of other nations.
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Nov 10, 2011 - Public support for increased federal funding on research into alternative energy technology, including solar, has decreased substantially since the start of the Obama administration. Nearly all the decline comes from Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
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Nov 07, 2011 - Households headed by older adults have made dramatic gains relative to those headed by younger adults in their economic well-being over the past quarter of a century, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of a wide array of government data.
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Oct 12, 2011 - A sharp decline in fertility rates in the United States that started in 2008 is closely linked to the souring of the economy that began about the same time, according to a new analysis of multiple economic and demographic data sources by the Pew Research Center.
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Oct 03, 2011 - According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of 2009 Census Bureau data, large numbers of Americans enacted their own anti-poverty program in the depths of the Great Recession: They moved in with relatives. Living in multi-generational households appears to be a financial lifeline for many, and although their adjusted incomes overall are lower, the poverty rate among people living in multi-generational households is substantially smaller than for those in other households—11.5% vs. 14.6%.
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Sep 29, 2011 - The public is divided on the question of whether the U.S. has become a society of economic 'haves' and 'have-nots," with 52% saying it is incorrect to think of the country this way while 45% say such a division exists.
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Sep 28, 2011 - The Census Bureau says that more than one-in-four same-sex couples counted in the 2010 Census was likely an opposite-sex couple, and identified a confusing questionnaire as the likely culprit. The bureau released a new set of "preferred" same-sex counts.
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Sep 13, 2011 - The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the nation's poverty rate grew to 15.1% in 2010, an increase for the third year in a row, and that median household income declined in 2010. Recent Pew Research Center reports describe the impact of the recession and shaky recovery on Americans.
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Sep 12, 2011 - Though the shifts in perception since the summer of 2010 have been modest, an increasing number see the Republican Party as very conservative, while slightly fewer see the Democratic Party as very liberal.
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Sep 07, 2011 - Early in the post-Sept. 11 era, the projection of American military strength led to fears of an unleashed, unchecked, hyperpower. However, the global financial crisis has turned the spotlight to America’s declining economic prowess and perceptions of a great power in decline.
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Sep 07, 2011 - Nearly twice as many Americans cite the job situation over the federal budget deficit as the economic issue that worries them the most. But as President Obama readies a job package to propose to Congress, there is less clarity in the public’s views about ideas to address the job creation.
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Aug 30, 2011 - As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, a comprehensive public opinion survey finds no indication of increased alienation or anger among Muslim Americans in response to concerns about home-grown Islamic terrorists, controversies about the building of mosques, and other pressures that have been brought to bear on this high-profile minority group in recent years.
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Aug 28, 2011 - As online college courses are becoming more prevalent, the public is skeptical about their educational value. According to a recent Pew Research survey, only 29% of Americans say online classes are equal in value to classes taken in person. College presidents have a more positive view of online learning, and they foresee dramatic growth in this area.
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Aug 25, 2011 - The counts and characteristics of same-sex couples are among the most written-about data from the 2010 Census and American Community Survey. Yet, two decades after the Census Bureau began offering people the option to describe themselves as a same-sex “unmarried partner,” producing accurate numbers remains a challenge.
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Aug 23, 2011 - With U.S. students underperforming on international tests, most Americans (64%) say that parents are not putting enough pressure on their children to do well in school, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project. By contrast, 68% of the Chinese say that parents in their country are putting too much pressure on their children to succeed academically.
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Aug 17, 2011 - At a time when women surpass men by record numbers in college enrollment and completion, they also have a more positive view than men about the value higher education provides.
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Aug 09, 2011 - More Americans now think that members of Congress who support the Tea Party are having a negative effect than said that in January, at the start of the new Congress.
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Aug 01, 2011 - The latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that the budget negotiations of recent weeks are most frequently summed up in words such as ridiculous, disgusting, stupid, and frustrating. Nationwide, these critical views cross partisan and ideological lines, with 75% of Republicans, 72% of Democrats and 72% of independents all describing the negotiations in negative terms.
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Jul 26, 2011 - The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009. The bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites.
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Jul 06, 2011 - During the current recovery, men have gained 768,000 jobs while women have lost 218,000 jobs. This gender gap represents a sharp turnabout from the recession, when men lost more than twice as many jobs as women.
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Jul 05, 2011 - An important group within the Republican base, white evangelical Protestants, is more uncomfortable with the idea of a Mormon candidate than are other Republicans.
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Jun 30, 2011 - Despite broad dissatisfaction with national conditions, the public has a positive view of the nation's standing in the world. But more think the U.S. is one of the greatest countries than say it stands above all other countries
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Jun 27, 2011 - The prevalence of unmarried couples living together has risen sharply since the mid-1990s. Yet while adults with lower education levels are twice as likely to cohabit as the college-educated, analysis suggests that the less-educated receive fewer economic benefits from cohabitation.
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Jun 23, 2011 - Opinions about the state of the economy remain grim, and President Obama has lost his post-bin Laden bump in approval. Still, people's assessments of their personal financial situations have little changed.
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Jun 15, 2011 - In the last 50 years, fathers have become much more involved in the day-to-day lives of the children they live with. During that same time period, though, the share of fathers living apart from their children has risen dramatically, to 27% in 2010.
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Jun 14, 2011 - Across party lines, a majority of Americans say elected officials get caught more often because they are watched more closely, not because they have lower moral standards than average citizens.
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Jun 06, 2011 - The public offers a mixed reaction to the proposal to change Medicare, but there is broad, and strong, opposition among older Americans and those who are paying a lot of attention to the issue.
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May 15, 2011 - A majority of Americans say the higher education system in the United States fails to provide good value for the money students and their families spend, according to a new nationwide survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project.
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May 04, 2011 - When census-takers can’t reach anyone at a particular address or obtain information about occupants in other ways, they sometimes use a last-resort statistical technique called “imputation” to fill in missing data.
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May 04, 2011 - The Pew Research Center’s new Political Typology finds that the public is more doctrinaire at each end of the ideological spectrum, yet more diverse in the middle than it has been in the past.
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Apr 12, 2011 - Despite the five-year collapse of home prices, the American public remains confident in the investment value of homeownership. A new Pew Social & Demographic Trends survey finds that fully eight-in-ten adults agree that buying a home is the best long-term investment.
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Apr 08, 2011 - Recent research challenges some popular and academic beliefs about the impact of family meals and divorce on children and the consequences of cohabitation for couples.
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Apr 08, 2011 - A century and a half after the firing on Fort Sumter, most Americans say the war between the North and South is still relevant to national politics and public life; the history of that era continues to elicit strong reactions.
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Mar 23, 2011 - March 25 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, a disaster often credited with strengthening the nascent U.S. labor union movement. Public approval of unions has fluctuated since then but has recently hit post-1930 lows.
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Mar 11, 2011 - In a recent survey, fully 90% of the public said that they were hearing mostly bad news about gas prices. Reaching this threshold is a rare occurrence, as polls typically focus on current issues with considerable disagreement. But there are some things that 90% of Americans agree on.
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Mar 09, 2011 - Today's 18- to 29-year-olds value parenthood far more than marriage, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of attitudinal surveys.
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Mar 09, 2011 - The public remains divided over whether Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence among its believers. Political gaps are wide, with most conservatives and Tea Party supporters linking Islam with violence.
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Mar 08, 2011 - While a 57%-majority says the government should work to curb obesity among children, few rate it a policy priority and there is strong opposition from conservatives.
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Mar 03, 2011 - Americans' are less discontent with the federal government but no more ready for political compromise. Views of Congress remain heavily negative while Obama's ratings stay positive. On social issues, the public is, for the first time, evenly split on gay marriage, while support for legal abortion, legalized marijuana--but not gun control--have all risen.
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Feb 22, 2011 - The bitter fight over union rights in Wisconsin calls to mind a labor battle that helped define the first year of Ronald Reagan's presidency.
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Feb 22, 2011 - Census data on race, ethnicity and population make it easy to look up information for any block in America. But those numbers may not be accurate--and deliberately so.
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Feb 17, 2011 - Favorability ratings for labor unions remain at nearly their lowest level in a quarter century with virtually no differences in views of private and public sector unions. But rating of business corporations is also near a historic low.
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Feb 16, 2011 - Findings from the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project show that the American public is sharply divided in its judgments about the sweeping changes in the structure of the American family that have unfolded over the past half century. About a third generally accepts the changes, a third is tolerant but skeptical and a third considers them bad for society.
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Jan 20, 2011 - Americans overwhelmingly cite the economy and jobs as the most important issues facing the president and new Congress. On health care reform, roughly as many would like to see legislation expanded as have it repealed.
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Jan 18, 2011 - More than four-in-ten adults have at least one step relative. They are just as likely as others to say family is important, but they typically feel a stronger sense of obligation to biological family members than to step relatives.
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Dec 20, 2010 - As the leading edge of the giant Baby Boomer generation turns 65 on January 1, 2011, a Pew Research roundup of new and recent surveys finds that this age group is more downbeat than others about the trajectory of their lives and the direction of the nation as a whole.
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Nov 23, 2010 - Undergraduate college student loans have risen dramatically in recent years. Graduates who received a bachelor's degree in 2008 borrowed 50% more than those who graduated in 1996.
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Nov 18, 2010 - Americans today are less likely to be married than at any time in the nation's history. Rates have declined for all groups, but have fallen most sharply among less-advantaged adults who are more likely than others to say that economic security is an important reason to marry. Still, family remains the most important and satisfying element in the lives of most Americans.
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Oct 07, 2010 - In a reversal of long-standing marital patterns, college-educated young adults are more likely than young adults lacking a bachelor’s degree to have married by the age of 30.
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Sep 24, 2010 - The Great Recession, which economists announced this week ended more than a year ago, divided America into two groups that are roughly the same size but that experienced very different economic downturns, according to a new Pew Research analysis.
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Sep 09, 2010 - One child in ten in the United States lives with a grandparent, a share that increased slowly and steadily over the past decade before rising sharply from 2007 to 2008, the first year of the Great Recession, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
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Aug 19, 2010 - The television set and the landline telephone are both losing their cachet in the digital age, as fewer Americans consider them necessities of life, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project.
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Jul 23, 2010 - Of the 13 recessions that the American public has endured since the Great Depression of 1929-33, none has presented a more punishing combination of length, breadth and depth than this one, according to a report from the Pew Research Center .
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Jul 22, 2010 - Canada's chief statistician resigns over the government's decision to drop the mandatory long form; next year's traditional census may be the last in the U.K.
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Jul 22, 2010 - Long-term unemployment takes a much deeper toll than short-term unemployment on a person’s finances, emotional well-being and career prospects, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that explores the attitudes and experiences of workers who have lost jobs during the Great Recession.
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Jul 01, 2010 - This special in-depth look at views on gender equality, done in association with the International Herald Tribune, also suggests that, while egalitarian sentiments are pervasive, they are less than robust; when economically challenging times arise, many feel men should be given preferential treatment over women in the search for employment.
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Jun 30, 2010 - Nearly all Americans consider themselves patriotic and voice pride in being American. Sizeable demographic and political differences do emerge, however, when it comes to intense expressions of patriotism. And many of those who voice strong patriotism and pride in the country also are highly critical of the federal government and its political leaders.
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Jun 30, 2010 - More than half of all adults in the labor force say that since the Great Recession began 30 months ago, they have suffered a spell of unemployment, a reduction in pay or hours or have become involuntary part-time workers, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends Project.
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Jun 25, 2010 - Nearly one-in-five American women ends her childbearing years without having borne a child, compared with one-in-ten in the 1970s. While childlessness has risen for all racial and ethnic groups, and most education levels, it has fallen over the past decade for women with advanced degrees.
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Jun 23, 2010 - The drive for health care reform legislation proved to be the most passionate and polarizing policy fight of Barack Obama’s first year in office, with the public and Congress deeply divided over the initiative. And much of that battle played out through a changing media universe. A new PEJ study, examining 10 months of health care stories, identifies some of the key elements of that coverage.
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Jun 22, 2010 - Imagine a future in which cancer becomes a memory, ordinary people travel in space, and computers carry on conversations like humans. Now imagine a darker future -- a world beset by war, rising temperatures and energy shortages, one where the United States faces a terrorist attack with nuclear weapons. Find out how Americans view the possibilities of the future in a new report by the Pew Research Center.
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Jun 16, 2010 - The recession-era boom in the size of freshman classes at four-year colleges, community colleges and trade schools has been driven largely by a sharp increase in minority student enrollment, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of new data from the U.S. Department of Education.
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Jun 11, 2010 - Today's mothers of newborns are more likely than their counterparts two decades earlier to be ages 35 and older, to have some college education, to be unmarried or to be nonwhite -- but not all at once.
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Jun 08, 2010 - A record 14.6% of all new marriages in the United States in 2008 were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from each other, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
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May 06, 2010 - Compared with mothers of newborns in 1990, today's new moms are older, better educated and less likely to be white, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the National Center for Health Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau. A record 41% of births were to unmarried women; but most continue to say this is bad for society.
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May 05, 2010 - Americans are widely dissatisfied not only with government but with most major institutions. A recent survey finds one notable exception: tech firms.
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Apr 06, 2010 - Birth rates in the United States began to decline in 2008 after rising to their highest level in two decades, and the decrease appears to be linked to the recession, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.
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Apr 01, 2010 - Nearly three-quarters of Americans—across all political and demographic groups—say they favor allowing sale and use of marijuana for medical purposes. Support for general legalization is lower but has continued to rise over the past two decades.
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Mar 18, 2010 - The multi-generational American family household is staging a comeback — driven in part by the job losses and home foreclosures of recent years, but more so by demographic changes that have been gathering steam for decades, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of census data.
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Feb 01, 2010 - The upcoming Winter Olympics will be a rare sporting event in at least one respect: As many women as men say they are especially looking forward to the winter games. By contrast, more men than women are anticipating another major event on the upcoming sports calendar, next Sunday's Super Bowl.
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Feb 01, 2010 - Compared with older groups, particularly Americans ages 50 or older, younger Americans are significantly more likely to be accepting of interracial marriage and are more likely to have friends of a different race.
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Jan 19, 2010 - A larger share of women today, compared with their 1970 counterparts, have more education and income than their spouses. As a result, in recent decades the economic gains associated with marriage have been greater for men than for women, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.
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Jan 07, 2010 - Homosexuality and tattoos register large generational gaps, but about TV Reality shows, Millennials and even the oldest Americans agree, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.
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Dec 21, 2009 - For most Americans the "aughts" scored close to zero on the scale of recent decades. But innovations such as cell phones and the Internet earn high marks, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
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Nov 24, 2009 - The journey home won't be quite so far this year for many young adults. Instead of traveling across country or across town, many grown sons and daughters will be coming to dinner from their old bedroom down the hall, which now doubles as their recession-era refuge. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 13% of parents with grown children say one of their adult sons or daughters has moved back home in the past year.
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Oct 29, 2009 - The share of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college in the United States hit an all-time high in October 2008, driven by a recession-era surge in enrollments at community colleges, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Oct 15, 2009 - Marriage, divorce and remarriage rates vary significantly among states as do average education and income levels. A Pew Research Center analysis of new Census data—including an interactive map—reveals some interesting patterns.
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Oct 01, 2009 - Women now make up almost half of the U.S. labor force, up from 38% in 1970. The public approves of this trend, but the change has come with a cost for many women – particularly working mothers of young children, who feel the tug of family responsibility much more acutely than do working fathers, according to a nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project.
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Sep 24, 2009 - Most see differences between immigrants and the native born and between rich and poor as stronger sources of social conflict than divisions between blacks and whites.
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Sep 17, 2009 - The self-employed are far more likely to like their jobs and work because they want to. But if you strike out on your own, don't count on financial security.
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Sep 03, 2009 - A new survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project finds that older adults are staying in the labor force longer, and younger adults are staying out of it longer. This trend intensified with the recession, but it should continue after the economy recovers. One reason, older workers value not just a paycheck, but the psychic and social rewards.
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Aug 12, 2009 - They have different values, beliefs and lifestyles, but young and old today are disagreeing without being disagreeable. They also share a fondness for Woodstock-era rock and roll, according to a nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project.
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Aug 07, 2009 - America's West has the highest concentration of older adults who don't think of themselves as old. Older Westerners also feel healthier and get more exercise than other older folks, according to a Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey.
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Jul 29, 2009 - Feeling drowsy? You're not alone. On a typical day, a third of the adults in the United States take a nap. Napping thrives among all demographic groups, but it's more widespread among some than others, according to a Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey.
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Jun 29, 2009 - Getting old isn't nearly as bad as people think it will be. Nor is it quite as good. On aspects of everyday life ranging from mental acuity to financial security, a new Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey finds a sizable gap between expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and actual experiences reported by older adults themselves.
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Jun 19, 2009 - Americans are increasingly upbeat about the economy and their own finances but that hasn't prompted them to open their wallets, according to the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
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May 28, 2009 - In 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.
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May 21, 2009 - Centrism 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 an increasing number of Americans identify as independents. The Pew Research Center's long-term values study tracks beliefs and attitudes—on government, business, race, religion and more—shaping public opinion and influencing voting behavior.
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May 14, 2009 - The ongoing recession has had different impacts on different age groups. Adults 65 and older have escaped its full fury. Adults in late middle age (50 to 64) have seen their nest eggs shrink the most and their anxieties about retirement swell the most. Younger adults (ages 18-49) have taken the worst lumps in the job market but remain relatively upbeat about their financial future, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project.
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May 12, 2009 - The ups and downs in the U.S. housing market over the past decade and a half have generated both greater gains and larger losses for minority groups than for whites, according to an analysis of housing, economic and demographic data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.
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Apr 23, 2009 - From the kitchen to the laundry room to the home entertainment center, Americans are paring down the list of familiar household appliances they say they can't live without, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project.
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Apr 08, 2009 - Many smokers say they light up to relieve stress. But it doesn't seem to work. A new survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project finds smokers are more likely than former smokers or non-smokers to say they often experience stress in their daily lives.
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Mar 26, 2009 - A new Pew Research Center report finds that for the typical American household, the Great Recession that began more than a year ago came on the heels of a less dramatic but equally unusual economic phenomenon: a Phantom Recovery.
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Mar 19, 2009 - A new report shows out-of-wedlock births rose to record levels in 2007. A Pew Research survey that year found wide concern about the social costs, but only a minority saw such births as morally wrong.
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Mar 18, 2009 - The Pew Research Center examines an 86-year-old poll that sheds light on why female Americans were slow to appreciate the hard-fought battle for access to the ballot box.
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Mar 18, 2009 - Given a choice, most Americans would opt for a sun-kissed climate. But even hot-weather lovers don't necessarily prefer warm-weather cities, according to a survey by the Pew Reseach Center's Social & Demographic Trends project.
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Mar 11, 2009 - Analysis from the Pew Research Center shows that states may seem to fall into one or another category, either attracting or keeping people. And most states do score high on one scale and low on another. But 10 rank high on both scales, and another nine score low on both. Find out where your state lands.
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Feb 26, 2009 - Suburbanites are significantly more satisfied with their communities than are residents of cities, small towns or rural areas, according a Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey that explores what Americans like - and don't like - about the places where they live. Overall, 42% of suburban residents give their community high marks, compared with just 34% of city residents, 29% of rural residents and 25% of small town residents.
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Feb 19, 2009 - The young, the less affluent and members of minority groups are more likely to say their homes are worth less than what they owe on their mortgages, according to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
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Feb 19, 2009 - Not even a housing-led recession can shake Americans' faith in the blessings of homeownership.
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Feb 10, 2009 - McDonald's and Starbucks are the yin and yang of franchise food and drink. While both are iconic American brands, each appeals to different lifestyles, budgets and, yes, even political ideologies. How different? A Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey on where Americans would like to live included the following question: "Just for fun: Would you prefer to live in a place with more McDonald's or more Starbucks?" The Golden Arches won the head-to-head contest by 43%-35%.
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Jan 29, 2009 - A new survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project finds that nearly half of the public would rather live in a different type of community from the one they're living in now. However, more than eight-in-ten rate their current communities as good to excellent. When asked about specific metropolitan areas where they would like to live, respondents rank Denver, San Diego and Seattle at the top of a list of 30 large cities.
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Dec 18, 2008 - Americans are settling down: Only 13% of the U.S. population changed residences between 2006 and 2007, the lowest share since the 1940s. A new national survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project and an analysis of Census data explore geographic mobility in the United States.
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Dec 02, 2008 - About six-in-ten Americans say they like the idea of living in politically, racially, religiously or economically mixed communities, while about a quarter take the opposite view: they would rather live in communities made up mostly of people like themselves, according to a new Pew Research Center national survey.
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Oct 23, 2008 - Despite the imploding stock market, the looming recession, the unpopular president and discouraging political polls, a new Social Trends survey finds GOP adherents still beat Democrats on the happiness scale.
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Oct 06, 2008 - The plight of Middle Americans has been much invoked by candidates from both parties this election year. Who are these folk? Here's a self-portrait painted in statistics.
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Sep 25, 2008 - They say it's a man's world, but in the typical American family, it's the woman who wears the pantsuit. Still, Americans retain strong traditional gender preferences with respect to some job roles. To find out where you fit, take the Pew Research Center's Couples Quiz, then read the report on the findings of the national survey.
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Sep 15, 2008 - A Pew survey, like others before it, found Republicans far more troubled than Democrats by the long term trend toward mothers of young children working outside the home. But these surveys were conducted before Sarah Palin entered the political scene. The especially enthusiatic initial reponse to her vice presidential candidacy contrasts sharply with these findings.
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Aug 25, 2008 - Americans believe women have the right stuff to be political leaders. When it comes to honesty, intelligence and other traits they value highly in leaders, the public rates women superior to men. But only 6% say women make better political leaders than men. A Pew Research Center survey explores this paradox.
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Jul 29, 2008 - There isn't one American middle class; there are four. Each is different from the others in its attitudes, outlook and financial circumstance—sometimes in ways that defy traditional stereotypes of the middle class, according to an analysis of a recent national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends Project.
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Jun 25, 2008 - America's baby boomers are in a collective funk. Members of the large generation born from 1946 to 1964 are more downbeat about their lives than are adults who are younger or older, according to a new Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey.
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May 14, 2008 - Since endorsing Obama, the talk show host's popularity has fallen among Republicans while the former vice president now rivals Obama and tops Clinton in favorability.
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May 14, 2008 - A new survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project finds that most Americans at every income level and in every demographic group worry they aren't putting enough aside for the future -- but they're apparently not worried enough to do much about it.
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Apr 09, 2008 - This report on the attitudes and lives of the American middle class combines results of a new Pew Research Center national public opinion survey with the center's analysis of relevant economic and demographic trend data from the Census Bureau.
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Feb 11, 2008 - If current trends continue, immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their descendants will account for 82% of the population growth in the United States during this period, according to new projections from the Pew Research Center. The nation’s racial and ethnic mix will change markedly by mid-century, the projections show, and the nation’s elderly population will more than double in size.
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Jan 31, 2008 - In general the nation's two largest minorities think well of each other, but there are some important differences, this Pew Research Center survey finds.
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Jan 17, 2008 - Race, ethnicity and politics can sometimes make for a volatile mix, but a poll finds that race relations in this country are on a pretty even keel.
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Dec 19, 2007 - The Pew Research Center released a compilation of the top 15 stories in which public opinion played a significant role, and the year's most notable "non-barking dogs."
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Jul 12, 2007 - According to a Pew Internet and American Life Project study, about one third (32%) of all teenagers who use the internet say they have been targets of a range of annoying and potentially menacing online activities.
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Jul 01, 2007 - A Pew Research Center poll shows Americans are concerned about the state of parenthood and marriage.
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May 01, 2007 - The first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans found them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate.
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Feb 22, 2007 - A Pew Social Trends survey examines whom people trust.
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Oct 01, 2004 - A new subsidiary — the Pew Research Center — is one change following Pew's governing transformation. The components of this organization, however, are well known.
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