Salon.com > Pew Research Center

Report: Nearly a quarter of all Americans struggle to afford food

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:29:00 +0000

A new Pew Research report on the economies of emerging markets reveals that nearly a quarter of all Americans are struggling to afford food, putting the United States far out of step with other wealthy nations, as Pew notes:

Reports of deprivation are closely related to national wealth. For example, in Australia, Canada and Germany -- three of the richest countries surveyed in terms of 2012 GDP per capita -- roughly one-in-ten or fewer have struggled in the past year to afford food. Meanwhile, in Uganda, Kenya and Senegal -- among the poorest countries surveyed -- half or more say food for their family has been hard to come by.

The United States is a clear outlier from this pattern. Despite being the richest country in the survey, nearly a quarter of Americans (24%) say they had trouble putting food on the table in the past 12 months. This reported level of deprivation is closer to that in Indonesia or Greece rather than Britain or Canada.

Poll: Fewer Americans think Obama can get things done

Thu, 09 May 2013 20:38:00 +0000

A new survey by Pew Research finds that fewer Americans believe in President Obama's ability to effectively legislate than did right after the election.

From Pew:

As Obama works toward advancing his second-term agenda, the public is divided over whether he is someone who is able to get things done (49%) or not (46%). Views of Obama’s effectiveness have declined since shortly after his re-election, when more saw him as effective (57%) than did not (37%).

Seventy-six percent of those surveyed did say that the president stands up for what he believes in, and 67 percent said he fights to get his policies passed.

Report: Local news somehow even worse than it was before

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:01:00 +0000

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism State of the News Media 2013 report is out, thrilling media reporters and people who read media reporting everywhere. The first, big, dumb takeaway -- courtesy Politico, natch -- is that MSNBC has the most "opinion" of all the cable news channels, and the least "news."

Opinion filled 85 percent of the content on MSNBC, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2013 State of the News Media report. On Fox News, commentary made up 55 percent of its coverage, while CNN was the only of the big three cable news channels to produce more straight reporting than opinion. Even so, story packages and daytime live event coverage on CNN was cut down by about half between 2007 and 2012, the report found.

Bring back shushing librarians

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Librarians hate to be depicted as bun- and glasses-wearing shushers, hellbent on silencing any and all noisy activities within their sacred domain. Fair enough: Librarians are highly skilled, well-educated and socially aware as a rule, and should not be reduced to a cultural stereotype ranking only a notch or two above a church lady on the hipness scale.

Nevertheless, there's a lot to be said for that shushing. I've long believed that one of the most precious resources libraries offer their patrons is simple quiet. Alas, for too long I've been forced to confine this sentiment to bar-stool rants because for all I knew I was being hopelessly retrograde. Libraries are constantly talking up the new — and often clamorous — services and activities they have added or plan to add in order to "better serve a diverse community" (and by extension, justify their continued funding in the eyes of public officials who like to appear forward-thinking). But take heart, seekers of serenity, for now we have data!

Non-religious on the rise

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:36:00 +0000

A new study has found that for the first time the U.S. does not have a Protestant majority. The report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released Tuesday put the number of Protestant adults below 50 percent (at 48 percent) for the first time in polling history. The reason for this is partly attributed to the spike in Americans who claim no religion (20 percent, compared to 15 percent five years ago.) The Pew study noted:

Their ranks [the non-religious] now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6 percent of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14 percent)... The growth in the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans – sometimes called the rise of the “nones” – is largely driven by generational replacement, the gradual supplanting of older generations by newer ones.

The data about the falling number of Protestants was collected from a sizable sample of 17,000 people. Similarly, a census report earlier this year found "for the first time" whites were surpassed as the majority in the U.S. Of course before European settlement a few centuries ago the area that's now the U.S. had neither white nor Protestant populations.