From the very start of Donald Trump’s presidency, Americans have been divided along partisan lines in their views of him. But partisan divisions in U.S. politics are certainly nothing new.
Our new video puts views of Trump into context by looking at the country’s growing partisan divides over time.
A new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data finds that the “post-Millennial” generation is already the most racially and ethnically diverse generation, as a bare majority of 6- to 21-year-olds (52%) are non-Hispanic whites. And while most are still pursuing their K-12 education, the oldest post-Millennials are enrolling in college at a significantly higher rate than Millennials were at a comparable age.
The changing patterns in educational attainment are driven in part by the shifting origins of young Hispanics. Post-Millennial Hispanics are less likely than Millennial Hispanics to be immigrants – 12% of post-Millennial Hispanics were born outside the U.S., compared with 24% of Millennial Hispanics in 2002.
More broadly, the post-Millennial generation is being shaped by changing immigration patterns. Immigration flows into the U.S. peaked in 2005, when the leading edge of the post-Millennial generation was age 8 or younger. The onset of the Great Recession and the large decline in employment led to fewer immigrants coming to the United States, including immigrant children. As a result, the post-Millennial generation has fewer foreign-born youth among its ranks than the Millennial generation did in 2002 and a significantly higher number who were born in the U.S. to immigrant parents, though this may change depending on future immigration flows.
Other key findings:
Japanese feel better about their economy than at any time in nearly two decades. But the overall mood in Japan remains wary, if not pessimistic. The prevailing view is that average people are worse off than before the Great Recession, while few think the next generation will fare any better. Automation is one reason the future may not be so bright for ordinary people: Majorities of Japanese say growing reliance on robots and computers will lead to joblessness and income inequality. And less than half the public is satisfied with the way democracy is working in Japan, while more than half hold the view that politicians do not care about ordinary people, that they are corrupt and that elections ultimately do not change much.
Roughly half of YouTube users say the platform is very important for helping them figure out how to do things they’ve never done before. That works out to 35% of all U.S. adults, once both users and non-users of the site are accounted for. And around one-in-five YouTube users (representing 13% of the total adult population) say it is very important for helping them understand events that are happening in the world.
Fully 81% of all parents with children age 11 or younger say they ever let their child watch videos on YouTube. And 34% of parents say their child watches content on YouTube regularly.
But even as many users are turning to content on YouTube to help them understand the world and learn new things, large shares say they encounter negative experiences with content on the platform. Around two-thirds of users (64%) say they at least sometimes encounter videos that seem obviously false or untrue while using the site, while 60% at least sometimes encounter videos that show people engaging in dangerous or troubling behavior. And among parents who let their young child watch content on the site, 61% say they have encountered content there that they felt was unsuitable for children.
Over the past two years, Americans have become more likely to say it is “stressful and frustrating” to have political conversations with those they disagree with. The change in opinions has come largely among Democrats: 57% now say that talking about politics with people they disagree with is stressful and frustrating, up from 45% two years ago.
By contrast, Republicans’ feelings about political conversations with people they disagree have changed very little. About half (49%) continue to find such conversations stressful and frustrating.
Overall, 53% of Americans say talking about politics with people they disagree with is generally stressful and frustrating; fewer (45%) say such conversations are usually “interesting and informative.” In March 2016, during the presidential primaries, slightly more found such conversations interesting and informative (51%) than stressful and frustrating (46%).
Majorities of Republicans and Democrats say talking politics with people whose views differ does not lead to more common ground
A majority of Americans (63%) say that when they talk about politics with people they disagree with, they usually find they have “less in common” politically than they thought previously. Fewer than a third of Americans (31%) say they find they have more in common with people they disagree with politically.
There is little division across the partisan and ideological spectrum: More than six-in-ten in each group say they find that when they discuss politics with people they disagree with, they usually find they have “less in common” politically than they thought.
Liberal Democrats are especially likely to use social media to mobilize others or find like-minded groups. Some 44% of liberal Democrats say they have used these sites in the past year to encourage others to take action on an issue that was important to them, while a similar share (43%) have taken part in a group that shares their interest in a cause. These shares fall to around a third or fewer among conservative or moderate Democrats and among conservative, moderate or liberal Republicans.
Large majorities of registered voters backing Democrats (77%) and those supporting Republicans (82%) expect their party to hold a House majority after the elections. But Republicans are more bullish than Democrats about Senate control: 87% of Republican voters expect the GOP to hold a Senate majority; 62% of Democratic voters expect their party to have the majority.
Two-thirds of Americans (67%) say everything possible should be done to make it easy for every citizen to vote, but Republicans – especially conservative Republicans – are less likely to hold this view.
Some 15% of U.S. households with school-age children do not have a high-speed internet connection at home, and this is particularly true in lower-income households. This aspect of the digital divide – often referred to as the “homework gap” – can be an academic burden for teens. Black teens, as well as those from lower-income households, are especially likely to face these school-related challenges as a result.
Younger adults in the U.S. are better able than older adults to distinguish factual statements from opinion statements, according to a survey conducted earlier this year in which respondents were asked to categorize five factual statements and five opinion statements. Younger adults are not only better overall at correctly identifying factual and opinion news statements – they can do so regardless of the ideological appeal of the statements.
A growing share of U.S. adults – including majorities in both parties – say drug addiction is a very big problem in the country today. Increasing shares of Americans also cite the affordability of college and sexism as very big problems. Partisans differ over the seriousness of many other problems, including the gap between the rich and poor and gun violence.
There were nearly 5 million English language learners in U.S. public schools in fall 2015, representing 9.5% of enrollees. These students are a diverse group from many different states and native language backgrounds. A new interactive shows Spanish is by far the most common language they speak at home, but other languages are common, too.
Spanish is the most common language spoken at home for ELL students, but not in all states. Roughly three-quarters of students with limited English proficiency in U.S. public schools (77%) said they spoke Spanish as their primary language at home in 2015.
Although only 2% of ELL students nationwide speak Arabic at home, the share is greater in some states, such as Michigan, where 24% speak it.
Brazilians will vote Sunday in a runoff presidential election. In a survey conducted this spring, 9% of Brazilians described the current economic situation in their country as good, even lower than the share (15%) who said this in 2017. A plurality of 43% said the financial situation of average Brazilians is worse than it was 20 years ago, and about half (53%) said children in Brazil will be financially worse off than their parents when they grow up. Voting is compulsory in Brazil: It is one of a handful of countries where at least nine-in-ten people say they have voted in the past.
Photo: Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images
Half of U.S. Latinos say their situation in the country has worsened over the past year, up from 32% in the weeks after the 2016 election and the highest level since the Great Recession. More say they have serious concerns about their place in America today and a majority worry that they, a family member or close friend could be deported.
Many blame the current administration for what they see as the worsening situation of Hispanics, the nation’s largest minority group. Two-thirds (67%) say the administration’s policies have been harmful to Hispanics – a much higher share than during the administration of either Democrat Barack Obama (15% in 2010) or Republican George W. Bush (41% in 2007). Overall, six-in-ten Hispanics (62%) say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country today, up since 2017 and the highest level since the Great Recession a decade ago, when 70% of Hispanics said they were dissatisfied with the nation’s direction.
And yet, attitudes among Latinos are not monolithic. Slightly less than a quarter of Latinos (23%) identify as Republican or describe themselves as leaning Republican. Among this group, six-in-ten (59%) approve of President Trump’s job performance, compared with just 8% of Latino Democrats who say the same.3 In addition, half as many Latino Republicans as Latino Democrats (28% vs. 57%) say the Hispanic population’s situation has grown worse over the past year.
Notably, partisan differences do not extend to voting. In each partisan camp, about six-in-ten (59%) registered voters say they are more enthusiastic about voting in the upcoming midterms than in the last congressional elections. This year, more than 29 million Latinos are eligible to vote, up from 25 million in 2014.
The movement for a $15-an-hour minimum wage got a boost earlier this month when Amazon – which has drawn criticism for its pay practices and working conditions – announced it would raise its base pay for all U.S. workers to $15 an hour. The new minimum wage takes effect Nov. 1 and will affect some 250,000 full- and part-time employees, as well as the 100,000 or so seasonal workers Amazon expects to hire in the next few months, according to the company. (The raises will be offset, at least in part, by the phasing out of bonuses and stock awards for hourly workers.)
How much of a real improvement those workers will see in their daily lives, however, depends very much on where they live.