Analyses

ANALYSIS February 2, 2012

Trends in Party Identification of Religious Groups

Since 2008, the share of voters identifying with or leaning toward the GOP has either grown or held steady among major religious groups. This includes both religious groups that are part of the GOP’s traditional constituency as well as some groups that have tended to be more aligned with the Democratic Party, including Jewish voters.

ANALYSIS February 1, 2012

Religion and the 2012 Florida Republican Primary

In his commanding win in the Florida Republican primary, Mitt Romney received strong support from Catholics and from voters who do not describe themselves as white born-again/evangelical Christians. Among both white evangelicals and Protestant voters, Romney ran about even with Newt Gingrich.

ANALYSIS January 23, 2012

Religion and the 2012 South Carolina Republican Primary

In his South Carolina Republican primary win, Newt Gingrich received strong support from born-again/evangelical Christians and from voters who said that it is important to them that a candidate shares their religious beliefs.

ANALYSIS January 19, 2012

Religion and the Presidential Campaign: January Update

Polling conducted Jan. 11-16 shows that Mitt Romney maintains a substantial lead nationally in the race for the GOP nomination and finds few differences in the candidate preferences of some major religious groups.

ANALYSIS January 11, 2012

Religion and the 2012 New Hampshire Republican Primary

Interviews conducted as voters left the polls in the 2012 GOP primary show that Mitt Romney was the winner among born-again evangelical Christians as well as among non-evangelical voters.

ANALYSIS January 6, 2012

Majority Continues to Support Death Penalty

A November 2011 survey finds continued majority support for the death penalty in the U.S. Compared with 20 years ago, however, there is more concern today among death penalty opponents about flaws in the justice system and the possibility that innocent people could be put to death.

ANALYSIS January 4, 2012

Religion and the 2012 Iowa Republican Caucuses

Polling conducted as voters entered the 2012 Iowa caucuses shows a clear split between born-again evangelical Christians, who favored Rick Santorum, and other voters, who favored Mitt Romney.

ANALYSIS December 19, 2011

Global Christianity

A comprehensive demographic study finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread, and no single region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.

ANALYSIS December 16, 2011

Religion and the GOP Nomination Race: December Update

Newt Gingrich currently holds a 35% to 21% lead over Mitt Romney among Republican and Republican-leaning voters who say they are very likely to vote in the GOP primaries or caucuses, and his lead is even larger among white evangelical GOP voters.

ANALYSIS November 21, 2011

Lobbying for the Faithful

A new report gives a brief history of organized religious advocacy in Washington, D.C., and examines the major characteristics of religion-related advocacy. A related online directory includes profiles of 216 groups currently or recently active in the nation’s capital.

ANALYSIS November 8, 2011

Presidential Preferences of Religious Groups: Early Polling

One year out from the presidential election, Romney and Perry had roughly equal support among registered Republican and Republican-leaning evangelicals, and both led Obama in a hypothetical matchup.

ANALYSIS September 23, 2011

Public Opinion on the Death Penalty

A 2010 Pew Research Center survey found that most Americans (62%) continue to express support for the death penalty for persons convicted of murder, while 30% oppose it. This is nearly identical to the level of support in 2007 but somewhat lower than earlier in the 2000s and especially the 1990s.

ANALYSIS August 9, 2011

Rising Restrictions on Religion

Restrictions on religious beliefs and practices rose in 23 of the world’s 198 countries (12%), decreased in 12 countries (6%) and remained essentially unchanged in 163 countries (82%) between mid-2006 and mid-2009, a new Pew Forum report shows. More than 2.2 billion people – nearly a third of the world’s population – live in the 23 countries with increasing government restrictions or social hostilities involving religion.

ANALYSIS February 24, 2011

Religion in the News: Islam Was No. 1 Topic in 2010

Events and controversies related to Islam dominated U.S. press coverage of religion in 2010, bumping the Catholic Church from the top spot, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

ANALYSIS February 23, 2011

The Tea Party and Religion

A new analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that Tea Party supporters tend to have conservative opinions not just about economic matters, but also about social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

ANALYSIS January 27, 2011

The Future of the Global Muslim Population

A new Pew Forum report on the size, distribution and growth of the global Muslim population finds that the world’s Muslim population is expected to increase by about 35% in the next 20 years, but it is expected to grow at a slower pace in the next two decades than it did in the previous two decades.

GRAPHIC January 5, 2011

Faith on the Hill

The political overhaul of the U.S. Congress after the 2010 elections appears to have had little effect on the religious composition of the legislative body, which is similar to the religious makeup of the previous Congress and of the nation, according to an analysis by the Pew Forum.

ANALYSIS November 4, 2010

Indonesia’s Place Along the Spectrum of Global Religious Restriction

This analysis draws upon testimony on U.S. International Religious Freedom Policy: the Outlook for 2010, before the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, Feb. 3, 2010.

ANALYSIS November 3, 2010

Religion in the 2010 Elections: A Preliminary Look

A Pew Forum analysis of National Election Pool exit poll data reported by CNN shows that Republican gains among religious groups parallel the party’s broad-based gains among the overall electorate and white voters in particular.

ANALYSIS September 15, 2010

Muslim Networks and Movements in Western Europe

To help provide a better understanding of how Muslim movements and networks seek to influence the views and daily lives of Muslims in Western Europe, the Pew Forum has produced profiles of some of the oldest, largest and most influential groups – from the Muslim Brotherhood to mystical Sufi orders and networks of religious scholars.

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