Pew Research Center

Times Mirror created the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press in 1990. The Pew Charitable Trusts became its sponsor in 1996.⁠[1]

The Pew Charitable Trusts announced a nonprofit subsidiary in Washington, D.C., called Pew Research Center. Its board had approved the organization on March 16, with operations scheduled to begin July 1. Andrew KohutAndrew KohutAndrew Kohut (1942–2015) was an American public opinion researcher and the first president of Pew Research Center. He previously led the Gallup Organization and helped develop research on U.S. politics and international public attitudes.Open the full entry was named its first president and Paul Taylor executive vice president.⁠[2]

The consolidation included the People and the Press project, Stateline.org, and the Internet & American Life, Religion and Public Life, Hispanic Center, and Global Attitudes projects. Project for Excellence in Journalism was expected to join in 2006.⁠[2]

The Center launched Pew Social & Demographic Trends, combining original surveys with analysis of Census Bureau surveys and other existing data.⁠[1]

Alan Murray took over as president in January 2013. The November 2012 appointment announcement said Kohut would remain founding director and advise on political polling and global attitudes research.⁠[1]

The Center established the American Trends Panel (ATP), initially recruiting participants through a national survey using randomly dialed landline and cellphone numbers for subsequent repeat interviews.⁠[3]

Political Polarization in the American Public drew on a national telephone survey of 10,013 adults conducted January 23–March 16, 2014, and follow-up surveys. Its ten-question political-values scale found that consistently liberal or conservative respondents increased from 10% in 1994 to 21%. The measure concerned ideological consistency, rather than a count of extremists.⁠[4]

Michael Dimock’s appointment as president was announced October 14 and took effect October 15. He had joined in 2000 and served as associate research director, political polling director and executive vice president. The presidency covered overall operations and the research agenda.⁠[5]

ATP recruitment shifted to randomly sampled postal addresses. The adult with the next birthday in each selected household is invited to participate; enrollment is not open to volunteers.⁠[3]

Researcher Anna Brown described the Center’s number-checking process, covering calculations, statistical claims, the population represented and consistency between text, charts and citations. Her account recommends a checker who did not write the material or create its graphics. Checks continue through revisions and publication, including associated interactive and social-media material. This describes the institution’s stated workflow.⁠[6]

The Center updated its guide to free survey-data access. Datasets generally follow reports after further analysis and removal of identifying information; some datasets about rare populations are withheld. Downloads require a free account and acceptance of the terms of use. Supporting files commonly include questionnaires, methodology and readme documentation explaining variables and study design.⁠[7]

The Center revised its approach to groups such as Millennials and Gen Z, limiting generational comparisons to situations with historical data covering comparable life stages. It would also examine age, period and demographic effects. Differences between telephone and online interviewing can limit comparisons. Age differences remain researchable without automatically treating them as distinct generational traits.⁠[8]

From mid-2024, new ATP members could choose web surveys or live telephone interviews. The panel had operated online-only from 2016 to early 2024, providing devices and connectivity to households without internet service.⁠[9]

The 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study surveyed 36,908 U.S. adults: 62% identified as Christian and 29% as religiously unaffiliated. The report distinguished long-term decline from recent stability without declaring a permanent reversal. Address-based recruitment offered web, paper and telephone responses. A separate telephone bridge study assessed comparability with the telephone-only 2007 and 2014 studies.⁠[10]

For the fiscal year July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025, the Center’s Form 990 reported revenue of $46,263,769, including $46,208,316 in contributions and grants. Expenses were $48,184,088, exceeding revenue by $1,920,319. Year-end assets were $49,845,415, liabilities $2,949,329 and net assets $46,896,086. These figures describe the research center itself.⁠[11]

Analysis of browsing records from 900 U.S. adults covered 68,879 unique GoogleGoogleGoogle is an American technology company founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin and incorporated in 1998. It became an Alphabet subsidiary in 2015. Its businesses include internet search, advertising, software platforms, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.Open the full entry searches in March 2025. Traditional-result links were clicked on 8% of visits with AI summaries, compared with 15% without them. Researchers reconstructed results in April, and results could change over time. These observations describe an association within the sample, rather than a universal causal estimate of website traffic loss.⁠[12]

National Labor Relations Board case 05-RM-376431 records a January 21 election tally of 74 votes for union representation and 45 against, followed by certification on January 29. The representative is the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, IFPTE Local 70. Certification applies to the defined bargaining unit and does not establish coverage of every employee or a completed collective agreement.⁠[13]

Methods and innovation leader Courtney Kennedy said the Center interviews real people for public-opinion reporting rather than replacing them with AI-generated responses; its AI-response research is experimental. She distinguished controlled probability recruitment from open online enrollment, while emphasizing that probability sampling alone cannot ensure accuracy without sound design and weighting.⁠[14]

A methods report argued that falling response rates and partisan differences in participation have increased the value of weighting by party affiliation or past vote. It also stressed limits: increasing Republicans’ weight cannot fully solve bias if participating Republicans are unrepresentative, and outdated benchmarks can introduce errors.⁠[15][16]

As of October 2026, the website lists Michael Dimock as president and Robert M. Groves as board chair. The board selects leadership, monitors integrity and financial health, and safeguards research independence. It advises on strategy but does not execute research, analyze data or produce reports. Dimock serves on the board without a vote.⁠[17]

The Pew Charitable Trusts provides most funding, alongside other philanthropic support. The Center says it accepts no government or political-party funding, does not offer consulting or contract research and retains control over research and publication. Projects can receive philanthropic support without the Center offering commercial research services to clients.⁠[18]

The Pew-Knight Initiative studies civic information, beliefs and community engagement. The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures partnership with John Templeton Foundation examines religious change. The People & Voices Initiative is supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Mellon Foundation. The Center says publications identify partners while it retains responsibility for design, execution, analysis and editorial control.⁠[19]

The ATP supplies most U.S. public-opinion survey data, with roughly 10,000 adults and surveys in English and Spanish.⁠[3]

SSRS took over data collection and panel maintenance in 2024, including questionnaire programming, panel relations, participant compensation, and cleaning and delivering data.⁠[9]

The Center sets topics, questionnaires, country coverage and sample designs, working with coordinating vendors and local research organizations. Language, culture and interview mode affect comparability, so country-specific methods disclose sampling, coverage limits and error. Most studies target adults outside institutions and seek coordinated fieldwork periods to reduce differences caused by intervening events.⁠[20]

Demographic and economic research also draws on Census Bureau, United Nations, World Bank and academically organized data. Studies may concern whole populations, immigrants, families or geographic groups. Sample size, original variable definitions and coverage constrain how finely the findings can be broken down.⁠[21]

Methods work spans U.S. surveys, international surveys, demographic analysis and data science. The Data Labs team also studies non-survey data. Methods 101 videos explain research concepts, while the Decoded blog describes working practices alongside the Center’s published findings.⁠[22]

The code of ethics requires directors, officers and employees to manage actual or apparent conflicts and describe methods accurately. It prohibits institutional campaign or party contributions and restricts senior staff’s partisan activity even in a personal capacity. Reported research misconduct is subject to leadership and legal review and corrective action where warranted; these are published institutional commitments.⁠[23]

Pew Research Center: Official website: https://www.pewresearch.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

Official X account: https://x.com/pewresearch (opens in a new window).⁠[24]

Official YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel: https://www.youtube.com/@pewresearch (opens in a new window).⁠[25]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry organization page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pew-research-center (opens in a new window).⁠[26]

Official Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/pewresearch (opens in a new window).⁠[27]

Official Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/pewresearch/ (opens in a new window).⁠[27]

The Pew Charitable Trusts: Official website: https://www.pew.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[17]

Pew Research Center: Survey datasets: https://www.pewresearch.org/datasets/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]