New insights on Americans’ views on health care, contraception, taxes and government entitlement programs

WASHINGTON — Two weeks before the election, the Public Religion Research Institute will release its annual American Values Survey, providing a unique and comprehensive look at the values and beliefs motivating Americans as they head to the polls, including insight into a number of hot-button political issues like health care and contraception, taxes and government entitlement programs.

PRRI’s American Values Survey, a large national survey of all Americans, also provides new lenses for understanding distinct subpopulations of the two largest religious groups – Catholics and the religiously unaffiliated. The survey explores the important differences between “social justice” and “right to life” oriented Catholics, and between three subgroups of unaffiliated Americans: “atheists and agnostics,” “secular Americans” and “unattached believers.”

This year marks the fourth American Values Survey conducted by PRRI. The 2012 survey will be discussed in detail at the Brookings Institution (1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW) at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, October 23. The panel discussion is open to media, and coverage is welcome. Photo, video and interview opportunities will be available.

At the PRRI/Brookings event, leading scholars will discuss what values are driving Americans in the 2012 election and what the candidates might be able to learn from the findings in the final days of the campaign.

The scholars will also explore the survey’s discovery of deep political and religious divisions on whether policies aimed at helping the poor are an important part of the national safety net and whether taxes should be increased on the highest income earners. Tuesday’s discussion will also illuminate the political and policy implications of a legality and morality gap on both abortion and same-sex marriage.

Who:
Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO, Public Religion Research Institute
Dr. E.J. Dionne, Jr., Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution
Dr. William A. Galston, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution
Dr. John Sides, Associate Professor of Political Science, George Washington University; founder and contributor to “The Monkey Cage,” a political science blog
Dr. Melissa Deckman, PRRI Affiliated Scholar, Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs, Chair of the Political Science Department, Washington College
Dr. Michele Dillon, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, University of New Hampshire; president-elect of the Association for the Sociology of Religion

When:
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 – 1:30 p.m. EDT

Where:
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Public Religion Research Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization specializing in research at the intersection of religion, values and public life.

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Contact

Shannon Craig Straw
202-265-3000

Adam Muhlendorf
202-265-3000