The Pew Center on the States: The Cost of Delay

Most Americans' dental health has never been better—but that is not true for an estimated 17 millionchildren in low-income families who lack access to dental care. A 2000 report by the U.S. Surgeon General called dental disease a "silent epidemic." Ten years later, too little has changed. Our report—a collaboration of the Pew Center on the States, the DentaQuest Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation—finds that two-thirds of the states are failing to ensure that disadvantaged children get the dental health care they need. Our report describes the severe costs of this preventable disease: lost school time, challenges learning, impaired nutrition and health, worsened job prospects in adulthood, and sometimes even death. The good news? This problem can be solved.

In America, Does More Education Equal Less Religion? Overall, U.S. Adults with College Degrees Are Less Religious than Others, but This Pattern Does Not Hold among Christians

The idea that highly educated people are less religious, on average, than those with less education has been a part of the public discourse for decades, but some scholars of religion have called this notion into question. And a new analysis of Pew Research Center surveys shows that the relationship between religion and education in the United States is not so simple

Support for Same-Sex Marriage at Record High, but Key Segments Remain Opposed

As the Supreme Court prepares to decide a key case involving states' requirements to recognize same-sex marriage, public support for allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally continues its rapid rise: A 57%-majority of Americans now favor allowing same-sex marriage and 39% oppose. As recently as five years ago, more opposed (48%) same-sex marriage than supported it (42%).This is the highest level of support measured for same-sex marriage in nearly 20 years of Pew Research Center polling of the issue. Yet even as support for same-sex marriage has increased among nearly all segments in the public, some groups remain broadly opposed to gay marriage.The Pew Research Center survey, conducted May 12-18 among 2,002 adults, finds that partisans are as divided on this issue as ever: Today, 65% of Democrats and an identical percentage of independents favor gay marriage; only about one third (34%) of Republicans do so. Growing shares of all three groups support same-sex-marriage, yet the differences between Democrats and Republicans are as wide today as they were a decade ago

What is Driving Immigrants from El Salvador to Las Vegas? (2000-2010)

The purpose of this study is to examine if death rates due to crime or unemployment drove immigrants from El Salvador to migrate to Las Vegas between the years of 2000 to 2010. This study will be most directly based on the research conducted in the study Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010, conducted by the Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center’s study focuses on finding an estimation on the number of undocumented immigrants that have entered the United States, the number of immigrants that are in the United States workforce, and the trends regarding what states and what cities immigrants are deciding to reside. The importance of my research proposal is that immigration as a topic tends to be biased based on the political climate. Research should be unbiased and should allow a platform where all of the facts surrounding a particular topic can be found. This will allow a deeper discussion surrounding the topic of Salvadoran immigrants in Las Vegas, Nevada, instead of discussing whether immigration is right or wrong based upon an individual’s moral reasoning. It is crucial that we focus on facts and that researchers are committed to unbiased research for the betterment of understanding the necessity of immigration policy reform. Through my research, I hypothesize that there will be a direct correlation to the number of immigrants in Las Vegas from El Salvador due to high unemployment and high homicide rates

An Implementation Evaluation of an Actuarial Risk Assessment Instrument

As a result of years of legislation aimed at getting tough on crime, the United States now boasts some remarkable and unenviable statistics. Today, one in every 45 adults in the United States is under some form of community supervision (Pew Center, 2009). At a time when states are facing budget crises that have not been seen in decades, state leaders have an opportunity to both cut costs and improve public safety by focusing community supervision resources on higher-risk offenders through evidence-based practices (Austin, 2007; Latessa, 2003; MacKenzie, 2000; Pew Center, 2009). Risk assessment is the critical first step in this process as it is indeed the foundation of effective community supervision (Austin, 2006; Bonta, 2007; Byrne, 2006; Latessa & Lovins, 2010; VanBenschoten, 2008). Without a reliable and validated risk assessment instrument, community corrections agencies will be unable to properly supervise the ever increasing numbers of offenders effectively. This study is an evaluation of a southern state’s correctional agency’s new actuarial risk assessment implementation process and instrument

Diverse Cultures and Shared Experiences Shape Asian American Identities

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand the rich diversity of people of Asian origin or ancestry living in the United States and their views of identity. The study is part of the Center's multiyear, comprehensive, in-depth quantitative and qualitative research effort focused on the nation's Asian population. Its centerpiece is this nationally representative survey of 7,006 Asian adults exploring the experiences, attitudes and views of Asians living in the U.S. The survey sampled U.S. adults who self-identify as Asian, either alone or in combination with other races or Hispanic ethnicity. It was offered in six languages: Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), English, Hindi, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese. Responses were collected from July 5, 2022, to Jan. 27, 2023, by Westat on behalf of Pew Research Center

The Economic Impact of Latin American & Other Immigrants Iowa, Nebraska and the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area

Although recent research from the Pew Hispanic Center suggests that the rate of recent immigration to the United States has slowed considerably, other studies clearly show that immigrants make substantial economic contributions to the communities in which they settle. This report focuses attention on the quantitative economic impact of first-generation, foreign-born individuals on the Omaha-Council Bluffs economy as well as the Nebraska and Iowa state economies in 2010

What is your present religion, if any? None, not Nun.

In this paper, I examine the rise of the religiously unaffiliated in the United States. The Pew Research Center has recently reported on this phenomenon in their “America’s Changing Religious Landscape” demographic study. In this analysis, Pew has defined the unaffiliated to include atheists, agnostics and Americans who identify with “nothing in particular.” However, atheists and agnostics only make up about a third of the total population of religiously unaffiliated Americans. This means that a large portion of the religiously affiliated may be spiritual or even religious to some degree outside of organized religion. Who are the religiously unaffiliated? Does this phenomenon really exist as a demographic trend in the United States? Here I examine national surveys as well as my own to explore the trend and beliefs of the “nothing in particular” category of unaffiliated respondents. Are they different than atheists or agnostics? How? Furthermore, what might this mean for our assessment of their role in American politics

Healthier and Wealthier: Decreasing Health Care Costs by Increasing Educational Attainment

In the past, states spent more on K–12 education than on any other budget item. However, in recent years, rising medical costs have changed this pattern; in 2003, health care expenses surpassed education as the largest item in states’ budgets. In fiscal year 2006, Medicaid alone is estimated to account for approximately 22 percent of total state spending, while all health care costs will account for about 32 percent of states’ expenditures (National Governors Association & National Association of State Budget Officers, 2006). These costs keep going up, and absent some drastic change, there is every indication that they will continue to outpace most states’ economic growth (Pew Research Center, 2006)

Help Wanted: A Policy Maker's Guide to New Dental Providers (Issue Brief)

Access to oral health care is becoming an increasingly serious problem for many people in the United States, particularly for children. The tragic death of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver in 2007 from complications of untreated tooth decay gave the nation a sobering reminder of the grim consequences that can result from a lack of dental care availability.The National Academy for State Health Policy and the Pew Center on the States, with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, conducted a comprehensive literature review and interviewed leading experts in several states to learn about options for expanding available care. This issue brief is a summary of the full report