ACCORDING to a recent poll, a large majority of Americans, and roughly half of Republicans, say they support governmental action to address global warming. … How could it be that so many Republicans view global warming as a problem, but so few on the right are pressuring the government to […] Read more »
10 Things the American Values Atlas Teaches Us About America’s Religious Landscape
Today we launch the American Values Atlas, a new, online tool that lets users see how Americans in each region, state, and major metro area feel about immigration, same-sex marriage, and abortion—in addition to seeing their religious, political, and demographic attributes. … [H]ere are the top ten things the AVA […] Read more »
The Top 10 Insights from the ‘Science of a Meaningful Life’ in 2014
It’s time once again for our favorite year-end ritual here at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center: Our annual list of the top scientific insights produced by the study of happiness, altruism, mindfulness, gratitude–what we call “the science of a meaningful life.” We found that this year, the science of […] Read more »
Cluster of Concerns Vie for Top U.S. Problem in 2014
In 2014, four issues generated enough public concern over enough months for at least 10% of Americans, on average, to identify each of them as the nation’s most important problem. Complaints about government leadership — including President Barack Obama, the Republicans in Congress and general political conflict — led the […] Read more »
Why white evangelicals rule the midterms
… Many outsiders assume that evangelical mobilization is a rather top-down affair: pastors and national elites tell evangelicals to get out and vote for conservatives. But I discovered that a much broader set of volunteer or “lay” religious leaders play a key role in weaving politics into local religious life. […] Read more »
Only Elite Norms, Not Public Opinion, Can Stop America from Torturing Again
… But these findings together indicate public opinion is not a backstop preventing the United States from torturing. Instead, mass opinion on torture is malleable and conditional. Support for torture in the early 2000s indicates that, in times of perceived security threat, people are more supportive. Unfortunately, those are exactly […] Read more »