The share of Americans who say racism is a “big problem” in society has increased 8 percentage points in the past two years – and has roughly doubled since 2011. Among Democrats, 76% say racism is a big problem in society, compared with 37% of Republicans.
While many U.S. Muslims say they attend mosque and pray regularly, sizable shares also say that there is more than one way to interpret their religion and that traditional understandings of Islam need to be reinterpreted to address the issues of today.
Nearly a third of Republicans say they agree with the president on only a few or no issues, while a majority expresses mixed or negative feelings about his conduct as president. Overwhelming shares of Democrats disagree with Trump on all or nearly all issues and say they do not like his conduct as president.
People around the world disagree about which is more important to emphasize in school: creative thinking or basic academic skills and discipline. Read four key findings about educational preferences around the world.
Americans owed more than $1.3 trillion in student loans at the end of June, more than two and a half times what they owed a decade earlier. About four-in-ten adults under age 30 have student loan debt, and the amount students owe varies widely, especially by degree attained. Read key facts about student loans in America.
God or the divine is mentioned at least once – and often more than once – in each of the 50 state constitutions and nearly 200 times overall. The Massachusetts and North Carolina constitutions have the most mentions.
About eight-in-ten U.S. Muslims say they are either very or somewhat concerned about extremism committed in the name of Islam around the world. While Muslim Americans are slightly less worried about Islamic extremism in America than around the world, their concern about domestic extremism is still high.
The United States and China now compete to be the more favored world power. The U.S. and China engender roughly the same level of goodwill. China is particularly well-liked in Latin America and the Middle East, while the U.S. fares better in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
The number of active-duty U.S. military troops stationed overseas has dipped below 200,000 for the first time in at least 60 years.
There were around 1.3 million total active-duty U.S. military personnel in 2016. Of these, 193,442 – or 15% – were deployed overseas. That’s the smallest number and share of active-duty members overseas since at least 1957.
The most liberal and conservative members of the 115th Congress have attracted more Facebook followers than moderates. In both legislative chambers, members’ ideology is a strong predictor of the number of people who follow them on Facebook.
Since 2002, Pew Research Center has conducted more than 500,000 interviews with people in 64 countries to learn their views about international and domestic politics, economics and other front-burner topics. Our newly updated Global Indicators Database serves as an interactive repository of these findings. You can use the database to explore public opinion around the world on issues that interest you by country, region and subject area.
U.S. employers planned to pay H-1B workers a median salary of $80,000 in fiscal 2016, up from about $69,000 a decade earlier. The 2016 median salary reported for H-1B visa applicants was higher than that of some U.S. workers in similar high-skill jobs such as computer and mathematical occupations.
The U.S. national debt – which stood at $19.845 trillion as of July 31 – is now bigger than the country’s gross domestic product. Read a primer on the national debt, the debt limit and interest payments on the nation’s credit line.
Around the world, few people trust Russian President Vladimir Putin to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs. While Russia is not seen as particularly threatening in most countries, it is viewed unfavorably in many. Many question Russia’s protection of personal freedoms.
Muslims are the fastest-growing religious group in the world. The growth and regional migration of Muslims, combined with the ongoing impact of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) and other extremist groups that commit acts of violence in the name of Islam, have brought Muslims and the Islamic faith to the forefront of the political debate in many countries. Yet many facts about Muslims are not well known in some of these places, and most Americans – who live in a country with a relatively small Muslim population – have said they know little or nothing about Islam.
This blog post has answers to some key questions about Muslims, compiled from several Pew Research Center reports published in recent years.
