Internet & Tech August 15, 2018

14% of Americans have changed their mind about an issue because of something they saw on social media

A small share of the public ? 14% ? say they have changed their views about a political or social issue in the past year because of something they saw on social media.

Pew Research Center August 10, 2018

11 states that have the death penalty haven’t used it in more than a decade

All 10 states that have the death penalty but haven’t used it in at least a decade currently have inmates on death row, though the number ranges from just one prisoner in New Hampshire and Wyoming to 744 in California.

August 9, 2018

Middle children have become rarer, but a growing share of Americans now say three or more kids are ‘ideal’

Roughly four-in-ten U.S. adults think families of three or more children are ideal. Yet it’s still much more common for American women at the end of their childbearing years to have had one or two kids than three or more.

Global August 9, 2018

Record number of forcibly displaced people lived in sub-Saharan Africa in 2017

The number of people living in sub-Saharan Africa who were forced to leave their homes due to conflict reached a new high of 18.4 million in 2017, up sharply from 14.1 million in 2016 ? the largest regional increase of forcibly displaced people in the world.

Religion August 8, 2018

Why America’s ‘nones’ don’t identify with a religion

Six-in-ten religious “nones” in the U.S. say the questioning of religious teachings is a very important reason for their lack of affiliation. The second-most-common reason is opposition to the positions taken by churches on social and political issues.

August 7, 2018

For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades

Despite some ups and downs over the past several decades, today’s real average wage in the U.S. has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago. And most of what wage gains there have been have flowed to the highest-paid tier of workers.

Global August 6, 2018

Most European students are learning a foreign language in school while Americans lag

A median of 92% of European students are learning a language in school. Far fewer K-12 students in the U.S. participate in foreign language education.

Pew Research Center August 6, 2018

What are nonprobability surveys?

Many online surveys are conducted using “nonprobability” or “opt-in” samples, which are generally easier and cheaper to conduct. In our latest Methods 101 video, we explore some of the features of nonprobability surveys and how they differ from traditional probability-based polls.

Pew Research Center August 3, 2018

When writing about survey data, 51% might not mean a ‘majority’

For many people, “majority” is a word so common that they rarely have to think twice about what it means. But it’s a different matter for polling organizations like Pew Research Center. At the Center, writers cannot label a survey finding a “majority” unless it meets specific criteria.

Religion August 2, 2018

5 facts about the death penalty

Pope Francis has changed the Catholic Church’s teaching to fully oppose the death penalty. Read key facts about the death penalty in the U.S. and abroad.