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Which of the 50 states has the most religious population? Since there are many ways to define "religious," there is no single answer to this question. But to give a sense of how the states stack up, the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life used polling data to rank them on four measures: the importance of religion in people's lives, frequency of attendance at worship services, frequency of prayer and absolute certainty of belief in God. Mississippi stands out on all four, and several other Southern states also rank very high on the measures.

WASHINGTON – Three of every four Americans view climate change as a serious problem that will harm future generations if not addressed, according to an Associated Press-Stanford University poll. The survey also said that about the same number of people say the Earth probably already is warming, slightly fewer than the percentage expressing that view when asked the same question a year ago. The AP-Stanford poll of 1,005 adults contacted by telephone in November suggests that people's concerns about climate change have not changed significantly. That's contrary to several other recent surveys. In October, according to a poll of 1,500...

Mission: PreK Bethany Stotts, December 14, 2009 Last month a prestigious line-up of retired admirals and generals emphasized the importance of early childhood education to the America’s continued national security. “We know that early learning is a proven way to save scarce taxpayer dollars while laying the foundation for success of the next generation of Americans,” said Retired Major General James W. Comstock at the conference, which was opened by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “That is why the Early Learning Challenge Fund is so important,” continued the former. As part of the student loan bill, the Fund would provide...

Even if you only occasionally attended Sunday School growing up, at some point you were exposed to the concept of faith in Jesus as being the only way to God. John 8:12-27 where Jesus is testifying before the Pharisees is a good example. There are many others you could point, and feel free to do so in leaving a comment on the blog. The fact of the matter is that many Americans who self-identify as Christians examine biblical claims of Jesus’ singular divinity, they simply aren’t buying it. A new survey released yesterday by the Pew Forum on Religion &...

One year out from midterm elections, anti-incumbent sentiment is approaching its highest level in two decades, according to a poll released Wednesday by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The survey found that 53 percent of Americans said most members of Congress should not be reelected, compared with just 34 percent who said most members should be reelected. Fifty-two percent would like to see their own representatives reelected in 2010, while 29 percent want them out of office, according the Pew poll. The last time voter sentiment was this negative was during the 2006 and 1994 election...

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Jimi Hendrix version of the Star Spangled Banner was playing out of one of the vessels and it was a cool, clear day on the Bay near Hathaway Bridge but Saturday’s gathering of charter boat captains was not a party. It was their last stand, local captains and their supporters said. See photos from the protest >> New regulations from the National Marine Fisheries Service of amberjack and red snapper are destroying the local fishing industry, the captains said. About 50 boats, including small two-man skiffs, large pleasure boats and mid-size trawlers took part in...

WASHINGTON – Americans seem to be cooling toward global warming. Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says. And the share of people who believe pollution caused by humans is causing temperatures to rise has also taken a dip, even as the U.S. and world forums gear up for possible action against climate change. In a poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Thursday, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that...

The Susan B. Anthony List, the antiabortion movement's answer to the pro-abortion rights group EMILY's List, set an ambitious organizing goal at the beginning of this year: getting supporters to send 300,000 letters and E-mails to Congress on abortion-related issues. But the group quickly surpassed that benchmark, recently tracking the millionth piece of congressional correspondence sent by a Susan B. Anthony List backer in 2009. "We used to have to nag and nag our members to get their voices heard," says Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Northern Virginia-based group. "Now it's not a matter of nagging. We're seeing a tidal...

For most of the last two decades, a clear majority of Americans has supported the right to abortion. A new poll, though, suggests that support for abortion appears to have declined, with the public almost evenly divided over the issue. The apparent shift has occurred in just the last year. In 2008, a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that those in favor of keeping abortion legal outnumbered opponents by 54 to 40 percent. The new poll, also conducted by Pew researchers, and released on Thursday, showed that the gap had narrowed considerably: 47 percent of those surveyed...

“The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys,” a new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, embargoed for release at 11 PM EDT Sunday night, discovered. The survey, of 1,506 adults conducted in late July, found “nearly three-quarters (74%) say news organizations tend to favor one side in dealing with political and social issues,” up 21 points from 53 percent 24 years ago, “while just 18% say they deal fairly with all sides.” The percent who perceive...

Most Americans rate the nation's health care as no better than average when compared with health care in other industrialized countries. Just 15% say health care in this country is the "best in the world," while 23% rate it as "above average"; about six-in-ten (59%) view U.S. health care as either "average" (32%) or "below average" (27%). The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press' May 2009 study found that health care receives relatively poor ratings compared with other major U.S. institutions and systems. About eight in-ten (82%) say either that the U.S. military is the best in...

[URL="http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=264"]http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=264[/URL] The image of the United States has improved markedly in most parts of the world, reflecting global confidence in Barack Obama. In many countries opinions of the United States are now about as positive as they were at the beginning of the decade before George W. Bush took office. Improvements in the U.S. image have been most pronounced in Western Europe, where favorable ratings for both the nation and the American people have soared. But opinions of America have also become more positive in key countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well. Signs of improvement in views...

Rasmussen first documented the rapid decline of Barack Obama’s approval numbers, and the rest of the pollsters soon followed suit. Pew Research, one of the most respected of the national pollsters, corroborates what Rasmussen and others have said for over a month — that Obama has undermined confidence in his administration’s ability to lead, especially on the economy and the deficit. His dustup with the Cambridge PD didn’t do anything to help, either: Barack Obama’s approval ratings have suffered major declines. The president’s overall job approval number fell from 61% in mid-June to 54% currently. His approval ratings for handling...

Overview: Barack Obama’s approval ratings have suffered major declines. The president’s overall job approval number fell from 61% in mid-June to 54% currently. His approval ratings for handling the economy and the federal budget deficit have also fallen sharply, tumbling to 38% and 32%, respectively. Majorities now say they disapprove of the way the president is handling these two issues. The new poll also finds significant declines over the last few months in the percentage of Americans giving Obama high marks for dealing with health care, foreign policy and tax policy. Three factors have likely contributed to more negative views...

Pew Environment Group Launches Project to Highlight Link Between National Security, Energy, Climate Change The Pew Charitable Trusts has announced a new project designed to gather and share with the public viewpoints on the critical links between national security, energy, and global warming. Former Senator John Warner (R-VA) will work the Pew Environment Group on the Pew Project on National Security, Energy, and Climate, which will bring together science and military policy experts to examine new strategies for combating climate change, protecting national security, increasing energy independence, and preserving the nation's natural resources. Warner will work exclusively with state and...

The Pew Research Center has come out with a poll comparing scientists’ attitudes (on scientific and other matters) with those of the general public. Among its revelations was that Republicans comprise 6 percent of scientists. That’s not a typo. Meanwhile, 55 percent of the scientists polled were Democrats, 32 percent were independents, and others were none of the above. Throw in the scientists who are independents but lean toward a party, and the numbers change only modestly: the GOP figure goes up to 12 percent, while the Democrats get 81 percent. By contrast, Pew puts the Republican share of the...

For the second in week a row, the fallout from the death of pop singer Michael Jackson was the week's top story. It filled 17% of the newshole from July 6-12, the result in large part of the star-studded July 7 memorial service viewed on TV by an estimated 31 million Americans. Meanwhile, the No. 3 story last week (7%) was the continuing chatter over the July 3 resignation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who may now be a cultural figure as well as a political one.

The global-warming debate is shifting from science to economics. For years, the fight over the Earth's rising temperature has been mostly over what's causing it: fossil-fuel emissions or natural factors beyond man's control. Now, some of the country's biggest industrial companies are acknowledging that fossil fuels are a major culprit whose emissions should be cut significantly over time. A growing number of these companies are pushing for a mandatory emissions limit, or "cap." Some see a lucrative new market in clean-energy technologies. Many figure a regulation is politically inevitable and they want to be in the room when it's negotiated,...

Pew: Palin is the most popular Republican 73% of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Gov. Sarah Palin (17% unfavorable) while only 57% have a favorable opinion (18% unfavorable) of Mitt Romney. Now, I may not know much about presidential politics, but I am pretty certain that before one can get elected president, one has to win the party’s nomination first — a concept that Hillary Clinton had a difficult time grasping last year as she began her general election campaign in January instead of the traditional after-winning-the-nomination. Which leads me to conclude that Mrs. Palin is in the driver’s...

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has seen his favorability ratings improve and now enjoys a positive balance of opinion among the general public: 40% rate him favorably, 28% unfavorably. This marks a reversal of opinion from February 2008, during the latter stages of the GOP primary campaign, when just 30% viewed him favorably and 44% expressed an unfavorable opinion. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted June 10-14 among 1,502 adults reached on landlines and cell phones, finds that impressions of Sarah Palin have not changed much since the presidential campaign....

Hispanics 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. A majority (52%) of the nation's 16 million Hispanic children are now "second generation," meaning they are the U.S.-born sons or daughters of at least one foreign-born parent, typically someone who came to this country in the immigration wave from Mexico, Central America and South America that began around 1980. Some 11% of Latino children are "first generation"--meaning they themselves are foreign-born. And 37% are "third generation or higher"--meaning...

The Republican party is in a whole lot of trouble. The latest Pew Research Center report on "Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes" shows that fewer than 25 percent of voters identify with the GOP, the lowest rating for the party in almost 20 years. The Republican party is older and less diverse than the Democratic party, as well as the country at large. And the rapid emergence of voters under 30 years old--the Millennial Generation--diminishes the salience of conservative values politics. Good news for Democrats, right? Not quite. The Pew study, one of the most comprehensive around, does...

Voters who call themselves Republicans or Democrats are increasingly turning a deaf ear to each other as partisan views harden, making the growing ranks of independents key to any long-term political gain. Those independent voters, according to data from the Pew Research Center and the Gallup Organization, are becoming more socially liberal while dividing between liberalism and conservatism on the economy. Independent voters hue more closely to Democrats on whether government should regulate the free market economy, but they run closer to self-identified Republicans on matters of helping the needy even if it means going into more debt. Social issues,...

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama's presidency has ushered in an era of centrism, with the country experiencing such a boost in independent voters that they now make up the largest proportion of the electorate in 70 years. This fickle group doesn't have uniform opinions, so its dominance carries potential risks for emboldened Democrats and opportunities for out-of-power Republicans. A new, expansive Pew Research Center survey that contained those details also found that the nation's values haven't fundamentally changed. The country hasn't become more ideologically liberal or conservative despite sweeping Democratic victories at all levels of government last fall and shrinking GOP...

The schism between Republicans and conservatives is growing. The party loses members, but conservative numbers stay steady - for five years.

The boom-and-bust cycle in the U.S. housing market over the past decade and a half has generated greater gains and larger losses for minority groups than it has for whites, according to an analysis of housing, economic and demographic data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. From 1995 through the middle of this decade, homeownership rates rose more rapidly among all minorities than among whites. But since the start of the housing bust in 2005, rates have fallen more steeply for two of the nation’s largest minority groups—blacks and native-born Latinos—than for the rest...

Earlier this week, the Pew Research Center released a survey on the views of religious Americans regarding torture. They survey found that white evangelical Protestants were the most supportive of torture--only 16% of evangelicals reject the use of torture. A whopping 62% of white evangelical Protestants think that torture is justified in most or many circumstances. Since the findings became public, numerous columnists, pundits, and bloggers have opined on why evangelicals support torture. The unaddressed question is, however, why white mainline Protestants--those belonging to the historic "brand name" churches--do not support torture. Indeed, approximately twice as many mainline Protestants (31%)...

As media member after media member used Arlen Specter's defection to the Democrat Party Tuesday as an example of how conservatism in America is either dying or dead, a new poll found this to be wishful thinking. In fact, in two of the key issues that have been largely divided along party lines for decades, namely abortion and gun control, a study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center showed the nation moving to the right on both. Here were the surprising findings: For the first time in a Pew Research survey, nearly as many people believe it is...

Public opinion on gun control and abortion has swayed conservative since a decade ago, particularly in the past year, despite–and possibly in response to–the recent election of the second Democratic president in three decades. A Pew Research Center report published Thursday detailed the trends among Americans, with the greatest changes in the opinions of men. Overall, protection of gun owners' rights increased in the past decade, rising from just 30 percent in May of 1999 to 45 percent in April of 2009. Only 49 percent of those recently surveyed support measures to control gun ownership, compared to a 65 percent...

New Poll Shows Support for Legal Abortion Drops to Lowest Level in 15 Years Washington, DC -- A new poll conducted by Pew Research finds the support for legal abortions has dropped to its lowest level in 15 years. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted March 31-April 21 among 1,521 adults, finds President Barack Obama could be sparking a shift to the pro-life side of the abortion debate. The Pew poll found 46 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in most cases (28%) or all cases (18%) and...

Three-quarters (74%) of internet users went online during the 2008 election to take part in, or get news and information about the 2008 campaign. This represents 55% of the entire adult population, and marks the first time the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that more than half the voting-age population used the internet to connect to the political process during an election cycle. SNIP This post-election survey finding comes after a similar poll in the spring of 2008. At that time, our survey found than 46% of Americans were online political users. In 2004, using a somewhat...

The Pew Research Center reported last week that President Barack Obama "has the most polarized early job approval of any president" since surveys began tracking this 40 years ago. The gap between Mr. Obama's approval rating among Democrats (88%) and Republicans (27%) is 61 points. This "approval gap" is 10 points bigger than George W. Bush's at this point in his presidency, despite Mr. Bush winning a bitterly contested election.

In his first two months in office, President Barack Obama has succeeded in widening the political gulf among Americans more than any other president in modern history, according to a new poll. The "partisan gap" between Republicans and Democrats is 10 points larger than it was under George W. Bush. The gulf – between Democrats and Republicans who say President Obama is succeeding – is also showing signs of further widening, according to a new Pew Research poll. The poll indicates that 88 percent of Democrats approve of the president's job performance, while just 27 percent of Republicans say the...

More than two months into Barack Obama's presidency, as many people incorrectly identify him as a Muslim as did so during the 2008 campaign. When asked about Obama's religious beliefs, 11% say he is a Muslim. In October, 12% said Obama is a Muslim, which was unchanged from earlier in the campaign. In the current survey, 35% say they do not know Obama's religion, either because they do not know enough about him (22%), or because they have heard different things about his religion (13%); another 6% refused to answer. As was the case last fall, white evangelical Protestants (19%)...

For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades. The 61-point partisan gap in opinions about Obama's job performance is the result of a combination of high Democratic ratings for the president -- 88% job approval among Democrats -- and relatively low approval ratings among Republicans (27%).

Pew poll: Obama's public support is eroding WASHINGTON -- A new poll by the independent Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has found that President Barack Obama's popular support is eroding, with his approval rating dropping below 60 percent. "President Barack Obama's approval rating has slipped, as a growing number of Americans see him listening more to his party's liberals than to its moderates, and many voice opposition to some of his key economic proposals," the Pew Center concluded. Its new survey finds Obama's approval rating falling to 59 percent from 64 percent in February. It also...

WASHINGTON -- A new poll by the independent Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has found that President Barack Obama's popular support is eroding, with his approval rating dropping below 60 percent. "President Barack Obama's approval rating has slipped, as a growing number of Americans see him listening more to his party's liberals than to its moderates, and many voice opposition to some of his key economic proposals," the Pew Center concluded.

A new poll by the independent Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has found that President Barack Obama's popular support is eroding, with his approval rating dropping below 60 percent. "President Barack Obama's approval rating has slipped, as a growing number of Americans see him listening more to his party's liberals than to its moderates, and many voice opposition to some of his key economic proposals," the Pew Center concluded. Its new survey finds Obama's approval rating falling to 59 percent from 64 percent in February. It also finds the ranks of Americans who disapprove of the...

As Barack Obama takes office, the public’s focus is overwhelmingly on domestic policy concerns – particularly the economy. Strengthening the nation’s economy and improving the job situation stand at the top of the public’s list of domestic priorities for 2009. Meanwhile, the priority placed on issues such as the environment, crime, illegal immigration and even reducing health care costs has fallen off from a year ago. While it is not unusual for the public to prioritize domestic over foreign policy, the balance of opinion today is particularly one-sided. Roughly seven-in-ten Americans (71%) say that President Obama should focus on domestic...

Most American Christians believe many religions can lead to eternal life and among them, the vast majority says you don't even have to be Christian to go to heaven, a new survey shows. Sixty-five percent of all Christians say there are multiple paths to eternal life, ultimately rejecting the exclusivity of Christ teaching, according to the latest survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Even among white evangelical Protestants, 72 percent of those who say many religions can lead to eternal life name at least one non-Christian religion, such as Judaism or Islam or no religion...

-snip- Obama holds a wide lead over John McCain among those who say they have already voted (32% of all likely voters) or say they plan to vote before Election Day (7%). However, it is not quite as large as it was a week ago. More significant, the race is about even among voters who plan to vote on Election Day: 46% support McCain while 45% favor Obama.

November 2, 2008 Obama Leads McCain 52% to 46% in Campaign's Final Days McCain Narrows Gap Barack Obama holds a significant lead over John McCain in the final days of Campaign 2008. The Pew Research Center’s final pre-election poll of 2,587 likely voters, conducted Oct. 29-Nov. 1, finds 49% supporting or leaning to Obama, compared with 42% for McCain; minor party candidates draw 2%, and 7% are undecided.

THE POLL: Pew Research Center, national presidential race among registered voters. THE NUMBERS: Barack Obama 52 percent, John McCain 36 percent.

With so many major polls showing the race between 3-5 points, polls like this are a good reminder of how much rap polls can be. I wonder how much this "lesser known" poll will get mentioned compared to the most accurate from 2004 which shows it as a 3 point race? Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Obama 49, McCain 45 GWU/Battleground Obama 49, McCain 46 Rasmussen Reports Obama 51, McCain 46 Gallup (Traditional)* Obama 50, McCain 45 IBD/TIPP Obama 47, McCain 44

New polling suggests that the Republican Party is beginning to regain some of its luster and, perhaps as important, is experiencing a surge in excitement among its political base. A new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reports that independent voters have an equally favorable opinion of both parties, 50 to 49 percent, a one-point edge for the GOP. That compares to an 18-point Democratic advantage as recently as August, a wide gap that had generally held for more than a year. And half of registered voters overall now have a favorable opinion of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The "Palin factor" may have boosted support for Republican presidential contender John McCain among evangelical Christians but he should not bank on the religious right putting him in the White House as it did George W. Bush in 2004, analysts said Tuesday. White evangelical Christians were key in getting Bush elected to a second term in 2004, but the US political landscape has changed for this year's contest, analysts from the Pew Research think-tank told reporters at a forum in Washington. For a start, fewer voters, including evangelicals, align themselves with the Republican party. "Since about 2005...

FWIW....just got a PEW telephone poll today....given MCCain/Obama as candidates who would you vote for?.... Now...hang onto your hats...given MCCAIN/CLINTON...who would you vote for..... This is HUGH!!!!Could even be SERIES!!!!

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A slim majority of Americans, including more conservatives and Republicans than previously, want to keep religion out of politics, a survey released on Thursday found. The results come as Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain actively vie for the support of religious voters among others ahead of the November 4 presidential election. The survey by the Pew Research Center found that 52 percent of Americans thought that churches and other religious institutions should stay out of politics, an increase of eight percentage points since 2004, when the last U.S. presidential election was held.

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH debunks one of the Democratic Party's favorite talking points about the global consequences of the war in Iraq. Armed with government statistics showing a big increase in terrorist attacks since 2002, Democrats routinely assert that President Bush ignited a firestorm of terrorism throughout the Muslim world when he sent troops into Iraq. The claim and the statistics are used to illustrate what Democrats see as the foolishness of the president's belief that toppling Saddam Hussein's regime would reduce instability in the Middle East and eliminate a major potential source of terrorism. A survey released in May by a...

The always-interesting results of the biennial news consumption survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press were released Sunday afternoon. Findings on TV news and online-only news produced a few surprises (follow to come), but on the newspaper front the indications were mainly negative, especially on the print front, but also in some aspects of newspapers on the Web. Namely: while more young people are indeed reading newspapers online, their total readership, print and Web combined, has not grown in two years. This survey was conducted by telephone from April 30 to June 1 among 3,612...