Pew Daily Number

By a margin of 69-28, Americans agree that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

While Barack Obama holds a large lead on most positive traits -- having new ideas, being personably likable, not being "a typical politician" -- McCain’s greatest advantage is on being perceived as "personally qualified to be president." By a two-to-one margin McCain (55%) is seen as more personally qualified than Obama (27%). Voters also see McCain as more likely to use good judgment in a crisis and willing to take a stand.

John McCain currently enjoys slightly greater support among Republicans than he did two months ago (87% now, 82% in June). In particular, McCain has strengthened his lead among among southern voters and among white evangelical Protestant voters, among whom he now leads Obama by 68% to 24%. In June, McCain’s lead among white evangelicals was slightly smaller (61% to 25%). The candidates, however, remain essentially tied among independents (45% for Obama, 41% for McCain).

The vast majority of self-identified middle class workers (89% overall) are either completely or mostly satisfied with their job.

The economy, which remains the top concern for voters this election year, continues to be a strong issue for Obama; he holds a 15-point advantage over John McCain on the issue (47% to 32%). Obama held a slightly wider lead in June; 51% said he was better able than McCain to improve economic conditions and 31% preferred McCain on this issue.

Only about four-in-ten U.S. adults now say they are better off today than they were five years ago -- the most downbeat assessment of personal progress in more than four decades of polling on this questionby the Pew Research Center and the Gallup Organization.

With oil prices and the cost of gas continuing to rise to new heights, voters have become dramatically more concerned about energy policy in this year’s presidential campaign. In October 2004, 54% said energy would be a very important issue in their vote; according to a late May Pew Research survey, 77% now say energy is very important. More voters now say energy is very important to their vote than cite Iraq (72%) or terrorism (68%).

Latino registered voters support Barack Obama for president over John McCain by 66% to 23%, according to a nationwide survey of 2,015 Hispanics conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center. Obama is rated favorably by 76% of Latino registered voters, making him much more popular among that voting group than McCain (44%) and President Bush (27%). Hillary Clinton, who won the Hispanic vote two-to-one over Obama in the primaries, has a 73% favorable rating.

While McCain is attracting more support from Republicans than Obama is from Democrats, his backers continue to be less enthusiastic than Obama supporters; 58% of Obama backers say they support Obama strongly compared with fewer than half of McCain’s backers (39%) who describe themselves as strong supporters.

While women favor Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain by a margin of 51% to 38%, only 41% of men support the Illinois senator compared with 49% who support McCain.

Views of the job situation continue to differ along partisan lines with 69% of Democrats and 65% of independents -- but only 49% of Republicans -- saying jobs are hard to find in their area. This gap has persisted even as the impression that jobs are scarce has risen across party lines. Overall, 61% of Americans now say jobs are difficult to find in their area compared with 48% who said so in November 2007.

Within China there have been several high-profile recalls of Chinese-made products over the last year but relatively few among the Chinese public are aware of these domestic recalls; only 1% have heard a lot about this issue, while another 15% say they have heard a little.

John McCain has been more successful in courting Republican voters who previously backed one of his GOP primary rivals (88% now support McCain) than Barack Obama has been in gaining support from former Hillary Clinton voters (72% now support Obama). Obama is attracting more Clinton supporters than earlier in the campaign (59% in May), but 18% of former Clinton supporters now say they will vote for McCain, 3% will vote for someone else and 7% are undecided.

Although religion will not be competing in the Olympic Games, it seems to be a more competitive force in China than people imagine; a 2005 survey conducted by InterMedia found that 33% of Communist Party officials and government employees said they were very or somewhat interested in having media access to information on the topic of religion, making them the most interested occupational group among the dozen or so groups reported.

About nine-in-ten (89%) Chinese identify the gap between rich and poor as a major problem and 41% cite it as a very big problem in a recent Pew Research survey.

In a recent Pew Research survey of the Chinese people, environmental issues emerge as a top problem and a top priority; about three-in-four (74%) cite air pollution as a big problem and 66% so named water pollution. In response, as many as 80% of Chinese think protecting the environment should be made a priority, even if this results in slower growth and a potential loss of jobs.

A 2005 Pew Research survey found that approximately three-in-five Chinese express a personal belief in the possible existence of one or more supernatural phenomena, religious figures or supernatural beings that are often associated with Confucianism and popular forms of Chinese folk religion.

Since early 2007, Democrats have consistently followed campaign news more closely than have Republicans, and if anything the gap is widening. In June, 55% of Democrats were following campaign news "very closely," compared with 44% of Republicans. The end of the historic Democratic primary has done nothing to close the interest gap. There was little to no partisan difference in following campaign news in June 2004.

Broad public recognition of China’s growing pains notwithstanding, the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey found broad acceptance among the Chinese of their country’s transformation from a socialist to a capitalist society with seven-in-ten saying people are better off in a free market economy, even though this means some may be rich while others are poor.