Religion in India: Tolerance and segregation

July 03, 2021 | by Julian L. Mertz | No comments

July 3, 2021

Weekly Roundup

The latest findings from Pew Research Center · Subscribe ↗

A person walks by a wall with graffiti art that reads, "Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christian" with one letter of each word highlighted to spell "Indian." (Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty Images)

Religion in India: Tolerance and segregation

Indians see religious tolerance as a central part of who they are as a nation, and most across the country’s major religious groups say it is important to respect all religions, according to a major new survey based on nearly 30,000 face-to-face interviews. Indians of many religious backgrounds overwhelmingly say they are very free to practice their faiths. But at the same time, members of the major religious groups see little in common and want to live separately.

Steph Smith drops off her ballot for the 2020 presidential election on Nov. 3 in Rollinsville, Colorado. (Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images)

Behind Biden’s 2020 victory

A new analysis of validated voters in the 2020 U.S. presidential election examines change and continuity in the electorate, both of which contributed to Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump. It looks at voting patterns among new voters, as well as those who cast ballots in prior elections, and offers a detailed portrait of the demographic composition of the electorate.

The Chinese flag flies behind razor wire at a housing compound south of Kashgar, China, in 2019. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Large majorities say China does not respect the personal freedoms of its people

Across advanced economies in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region, most think the Chinese government does not respect the personal freedoms of its people. In 15 of 17 publics surveyed, eight-in-ten or more adults hold this view. These shares are at or near historic highs in nearly every place surveyed, as are unfavorable views of China more broadly.

More U.S. locations experimenting with alternative voting systems

The recent Democratic primary for New York City mayor attracted even more attention than usual, as the nation’s biggest city also became the largest jurisdiction to use an alternative voting system known as ranked-choice voting (RCV). This is the first time New York has used RCV, but it is far from the only place with some form of alternative voting system. In all, at least 261 jurisdictions in the U.S. have adopted some voting method other than the “winner-take-all” system most American voters know.

Most Americans believe in intelligent life beyond Earth; few see UFOs as a major national security threat

As an unprecedented U.S. intelligence report brings new attention to the phenomenon of unidentified flying objects, about two-thirds of Americans (65%) say their best guess is that intelligent life exists on other planets. A smaller but still sizable share of the public (51%) says that UFOs reported by people in the military are likely evidence of intelligent life outside Earth.

State of the News Media fact sheets

Explore a collection of fact sheets on key audience and economic indicators for the U.S. news media industry. The new fact sheets cover newspapers, audio and podcasting, and public broadcasting. You can also read a new post on our methods blog, Decoded, about the challenges of estimating newspaper circulation in 2020.

56% of Americans oppose the right to sue social media companies for what users post

Republicans less likely to trust their main news source if they see it as ‘mainstream’; Democrats more likely

From our research

51%

The share of American adults who say UFOs are not a threat to U.S. national security, compared with 36% who say they are a minor threat and 10% who say they are a major threat.

Support Pew Research Center

In times of uncertainty, good decisions demand good data. Please support Pew Research Center with a contribution on the Center's behalf to our parent organization, The Pew Charitable Trusts.

DONATE

Newsletter preferences

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank. As a neutral source of data and analysis, Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.