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Explore Pew Forum publications—including public opinion polls, demographic reports, research studies, event transcripts and interviews—on key issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs:

 

Abortion Education Politics & Elections
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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 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 August 11, 2010
Much Hope, Modest Change for Democrats
An analysis of newly released 2008 exit poll data finds that while Barack Obama succeeded in attracting a larger share of the vote from some religious groups than John Kerry did in 2004, the large gaps in the electorate that had developed along religious lines in earlier elections persisted in 2008.
ANALYSIS June 11, 2010
The Pope Meets the Press: Media Coverage of the Clergy Abuse Scandal
Newspaper coverage of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal grew more intense this spring than at any time since 2002, and European newspapers devoted even more ink to the story than American papers did, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
ANALYSIS March 25, 2010
Religion in the News: 2009
Pope Benedict XVI and the Obama administration generated the most religion-related coverage in the U.S. press in 2009. The pope, though he made no visits to the United States last year, was the subject of two of the top 10 religion stories, while the Obama administration accounted for three of the top 10 religion-focused storylines during the year.
ANALYSIS January 26, 2010
A Brief History of Religion and the U.S. Census
This brief history of religion and the census explains why the census no longer includes questions on religion, even though it once did.
ANALYSIS December 17, 2009
Little Support for Terrorism Among Muslim Americans
Recent events such as the Fort Hood shootings and the arrest of five Muslim American students in Pakistan have raised questions about the threat of homegrown terrorism in the U.S.  
ANALYSIS December 17, 2009
Global Restrictions on Religion
This report gauges the level of religious restrictions in 198 countries due both to government actions and to acts of violence and intimidation by private individuals, organizations and social groups.
ANALYSIS December 1, 2009
GOP Seen as Friendlier To Religion Than Democrats
The number of Americans describing the Democratic Party as friendly toward religion returned to levels similar to those seen in 2005 through 2007, according to a recent survey report. The Obama administration, however, is seen as friendly toward religion by more people (37%) than the Democratic Party as a whole (29%).
ANALYSIS November 19, 2009
Abortion Plays Small Role in Health Reform Opposition
While most Americans oppose government funding of abortion, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that concern about abortion funding plays only a small role in driving opposition to the health care reform legislation under consideration by Congress.
ANALYSIS November 18, 2009
Modest Rise in Concern About Islamic Extremism
The public continues to express concern about the rise of Islamic extremism in the United States and abroad, but a survey taken shortly after the deadly Nov. 5 shootings at the Fort Hood Army base shows only a modest increase in these concerns since 2007.
ANALYSIS November 16, 2009
Faith-Based Programs Still Popular, Less Visible
More than eight years after former President George W. Bush unveiled his faith-based initiative to make it easier for religious groups to receive government funding to provide social services, such as feeding the needy, the policy continues to draw broad public support.
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