As of October 2008, 11.5 million students, or 39.6% of all young adults ages 18 to 24, were enrolled in either a two- or four-year college.
Like other online pastimes, age is a strong, independent predictor for use of Twitter or other similar status-updating services.
A majority (55%) of adults said there are "very strong" or "strong" conflicts between immigrants and people born in the United States.
Americans are split on how to achieve eternal life, with just as many saying a person’s beliefs determine access to everlasting bliss (30%) as say a person’s actions are most important (29%). One-in-ten believe a combination of the two is necessary, while 14% are not sure what matters most.
Despite the current deep recession, Americans still on the job appear to be a contented lot.
Today’s adults aren’t what they used to be.
Remember the classic country song: "All My Ex’s Live in Texas"? Well, George Strait was on to something.
While Americans across the country will be honoring the nation’s military veterans on Veterans Day, most say the U.S. does not give enough support to soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Like other American religious groups, Muslims believe that their religious convictions can fit comfortably in a world of rapid change and shifting values; more than six-in-ten Muslim Americans (63%) say they see no conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society, a belief they share with many Muslims around the world.
When asked about their own religious status, one-in-five Americans (19%) say they think of themselves as belonging to a minority because of their religious beliefs, while 78% do not.
According to a nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project, nearly four-in-ten adults who are working past the median retirement age of 62 say they have delayed their retirement because of the recession; among workers ages 50 to 61, fully 63% say they might have to push back their expected retirement date because of current economic conditions.
Though a majority of Americans now favor allowing gay couples to enter into civil unions (57%), roughly half the country (49%) considers homosexuality to be morally wrong.
After falling from post-inaugural highs this summer, Barack Obama’s approval rating as president has remained steady over the past few months, with a little more than half consistently approving of his performance.
Fully 86% of Latinos ages 16 to 25 are in school or the labor force; significantly fewer of their counterparts were engaged in these market-oriented activities in previous generations.
Since June support among Americans for keeping NATO troops in Afghanistan until the situation has stabilized has fallen by seven points to 50%. In that same period, the percentage of Americans who want forces removed as soon as possible has risen from 38% in June to 43% in September.
Long before little ghosts and witches filled plastic jack-o-lanterns with candy every Oct. 31, ancient Celts celebrated the festival known as Samhain, Wikipedia tells us.
As women have taken a more active role in the labor force, public opinion has become increasingly supportive of this new reality; today, only 19% agree that women should return to their traditional roles, while 75% disagree.
The media love natural disasters, and nowhere is this truer than in the sector where the damage from a flood or earthquake can be shown in all its horror: network television news.
Afghanistan President Harmid Karzai has been much in the news lately as the result of charges of corruption in the August 20 presidential election in Afghanistan as well the escalating violence in his country throughout the year.
Nearly six-in-ten adults (58%) say that Muslims are subject to a lot of discrimination, far more than say the same about Jews, evangelical Christians, atheists or Mormons.