This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I subscribe to PEW Research publications for several reasons:

• On occasion, I learn something new.
• On occasion, findings give me something to question.
• On occasion, findings really are “striking.”

Pew Research Center is a non-partisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.  It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis, and other data-driven social science research.  It does not take policy positions.

So what does PEW stand for?  Well, it is not an acronym; it is the name of the family that started the site.

A couple days ago, a new PEW publication shed light on public opinion around some of the BIGGEST NEWS EVENTS OF 2022 – from Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, to Americans’ experiences with extreme weather events.

So, without further ado (though I add a few of my own comments below), here is a list of the 15 findings, which were called “striking.”

1. Today, roughly four-in-ten Americans (41 per cent) say none of their purchases in a typical week are paid for using cash, a July survey found.  This is up from 29 per cent in 2018 and 24 per cent in 2015.
2.  If recent trends continue, Christians could make up a minority of Americans by 2070.  That’s according to a September report that models several hypothetical scenarios of how the U.S. religious landscape might change over the next 50 years, based on religious switching patterns.
3. Views of reparations for slavery vary widely by race and ethnicity, especially between Black and White Americans, a November analysis found.  Overall, 30 per cent of U.S. adults say descendants of people enslaved in the United States should be repaid in some way, such as being given land or money.  About seven-in-ten say these descendants should not be repaid.
4. A growing share of adult TikTok users in the U.S. are getting news on the platform, bucking the trend on other social media sites, according to a survey fielded in July and August.  A third of adults who use TikTok say they regularly get news there, up from 22 per cent two years ago. 
   
   

Comment:  I don’t get any news on Tik Tok, which I have never opened – and don’t plan to open.

• Most Americans who have experienced extreme weather in the past year – including majorities in both political parties – see climate change as a factor, according to a May survey.
• Following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, Americans became much more likely to see Russia as an enemy of the United States.  In March, just after the invasion, 70 per cent of Americans said that, on balance, Russia is an enemy of the U.S., up sharply from 41 per cent who held this view in January.
•  Relatively few Americans take an absolutist view on the legality of abortion – either supporting or opposing it at all times, according to a survey conducted in March, before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The vast majority of the public is somewhere in the middle when it comes to abortion:  Most think it should be legal in at least some circumstances, but most are also open to limitations on its availability in others.

Comment:  This reflects my own view.  It’s impossible for me to join either the “no” or “yes” sides in the debate.  The abortion is far too personal and complicated to end up with a simple answer.

•  Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the partisan gap in views of the court grew wider than at any point in more than three decades. While 73 per cent of Republicans expressed a favorable view of the court in an August survey, only 28 per cent of Democrats shared that view. That 45-point gap was wider than at any point in 35 years of polling on the court.
•  About 5 per cent of Americans younger than 30 are transgender or non-binary – that is, their gender is different from their sex assigned at birth, according to a survey conducted in May. By comparison, 1.6 per cent of those ages 30 to 49 and 0.3 per cent of those 50 and older say that their gender is different from their sex assigned at birth. Overall, 1.6 per cent of U.S. adults are transgender or non-binary – that is, someone who is neither a man nor a woman or isn’t strictly one or the other.
• Most Americans say journalists should always strive to give every side equal coverage, but journalists themselves are more likely to say every side does not always deserve equal coverage, according to two separate surveys conducted in late winter amid debate over “bothsidesism” in the media. 

Comment:  As a former journalist, I feel for reporters and editors today.  The question is whether the old adage – cover both or all sides equally – should apply today.  I say not, if only because the news media should call out scofflaws like Donald Trump and his minions, and thus fail intentionally to cover “both sides.”

1. A recent surge in U.S. drug overdose deaths has hit Black men the hardest, a January analysis found.  While overdose death rates have increased in every major demographic group in recent years, no group has seen a bigger increase than Black men.  As a result, Black men have overtaken White men and are now on par with American Indian or Alaska Native men as the demographic groups most likely to die from overdoses.
2. Nearly half of U.S. teens now say they use the internet “almost constantly,” according to a survey conducted in April and May. This percentage has roughly doubled since 2014-15, when 24 per cent said they were almost constantly on-line.
3. The share of aggregate U.S. household income held by the middle class has fallen steadily since 1970, according to an analysis published in April.
4. Growing shares of both Republicans and Democrats say that members of the other party are more immoral, dishonest and closed-minded than other Americans, according to a survey conducted in June and July.

Comment:  This is a reflection of the problem that the “middle ground” rarely exists in politics any longer.  Still, that is often where the best solutions lie.

1. Majorities in nations around the world generally see social media as a good thing for democracy – but not in the United States, a survey of people in 19 advanced economies found.

PEW again performs a useful service by summarizing these statistics.  Do all of them represent me?  No.  But they are worth thought and reflection.