The Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project studies behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives, including family, community, health, finance, work and leisure. The project explores these topics by combining original public opinion survey research with social, economic and demographic data analysis.

It is one of eight projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take positions on policy issues.

Staff

Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor, Executive Vice President of the Pew Research Center, directs the Social & Demographic Trends project. From 1996 through 2003, he served as president and board chairman of the Alliance for Better Campaigns. Before that, he was a newspaper reporter for 25 years, the last 14 at The Washington Post, where he covered national politics and served as a foreign correspondent. From 1992-1995, he was the Post's bureau chief in South Africa and reported on the historic transformation from apartheid to democracy. He also covered four U.S. presidential campaigns.

Rich Morin

Rich Morin is a Senior Editor at the Pew Research Center. He is a veteran newsman and pollster with more than 30 years experience in newspaper journalism. Before joining the Pew Research Center, he served as polling editor, staff writer, and columnist for The Washington Post.

D'Vera Cohn

D'Vera Cohn is a Senior Writer at the Pew Research Center. She was a Washington Post reporter for 21 years, mainly writing about demographics, and was the newspaper's lead reporter for the 2000 Census. After leaving the newspaper in 2006, she served as a consultant and freelance writer for the Pew Hispanic Center, Brookings Institution and Population Reference Bureau. She also has advised the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism on demographic topics, and has spoken at national journalism conferences about how reporters can make use of demographic data in stories. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she is a former Nieman Fellow.

April K. Clark

April K. Clark is a Research Associate at the Pew Research Center, where she assists in the development of survey questionnaires, performs statistical analyses, assembles tables and graphics, and helps write and review the Center's reports. April holds a Ph.D. in political science with a concentration in American and comparative politics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her doctoral research focuses on political tolerance over time and across generations.