Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Political Issues

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    Obama Faces Familiar Divisions Over Anti-Terror Policies

    Overview President Obama receives positive ratings for his handling of terrorism and most Americans say his administration’s policies will reduce the likelihood of another major attack on the United States. But as in recent years, the public remains deeply divided over how best to defend the nation against the threat of terrorism. Americans approve of […]

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    A Rising Share: Hispanics and Federal Crime

    Sharp growth in illegal immigration and increased enforcement of immigration laws have dramatically altered the ethnic composition of offenders sentenced in federal courts.

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    Fighting Over Darwin, State by State

    Updated February 3, 2014 The debate over whether and how to teach public school students about evolution may be an old one, but it shows no signs of abating. Indeed, in the last decade, questions about what students should learn about Darwin’s theory have been debated in more than half the states in the union […]

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    Evolution and Religion Research Package

    A Pew Forum research package gives an overview of the debate, examines its social and legal dimensions and reviews the life and ideas of Charles Darwin. ANALYSIS Updated February 3, 2014 Overview: The Conflict Between Religion and Evolution Almost 150 years after Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking work On the Origin of Species by Means […]

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    Overview: The Conflict Between Religion and Evolution

    Updated February 3, 2014 Almost 150 years after Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Americans are still fighting over evolution. If anything, the controversy has grown in both size and intensity. In the last decade, debates over how evolution should be taught in schools have […]

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    Faith-Based Aid Favored – With Reservations

    A 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life found that while Americans generally support allowing religious groups to apply for government funding to provide social services, they draw the line at letting such organizations hire only people who […]

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    Hiring Law for Groups Following a Higher Law: Faith-Based Hiring and the Obama Administration

    During his 2008 presidential campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama said that he intended to overturn President George W. Bush’s policy of allowing faith-based groups that receive federal funding to consider a potential employee’s religion when making hiring decisions. Although a 1972 civil rights law generally exempts religious groups from the prohibition on religious discrimination in hiring, […]

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    Ideological Gaps Over Israel on Both Sides of Atlantic

    The American public has long expressed strong support for Israel. In a survey conducted earlier this month during the conflict in the Gaza Strip, 49% of Americans said they sympathized more with Israel in its dispute with the Palestinians, while just 11% sympathized more with the Palestinians and 15% said they sympathized with neither side. […]