Pew Research Center

• 1. Introduction

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  The Pew Research Center shapes how the world understands itself. Based in Washington, D.C., this nonpartisan think tank has become one of the most cited sources on public opinion, demographic change, and social trends in the United States and beyond. It does not advocate for any policy position. It simply asks questions, counts answers, and shares what it finds.

  But Pew did not arrive fully formed. It grew out of a newspaper company's research project, changed hands, changed names, and slowly became something no one quite planned. How did a polling shop inside a media conglomerate become an independent research institution trusted across the political spectrum? And what does it actually do with all those surveys?

• 2. From Times Mirror to Pew

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  In 1990, the Times Mirror Company founded a polling operation called the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press. Its original charge was narrow: conduct surveys on politics and policy. Andrew Kohut took over as director in 1993, and by 1996 the Pew Charitable Trusts had stepped in as the primary sponsor.

  With that funding shift came a new name. The center became the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, inheriting its identity from the trust, which itself traces its name to the Pew family, its founders. Eight years later, in 2004, the trust formally established the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. as a distinct institution.

  Kohut led the organization from its Times Mirror days through that transition, eventually stepping down as president in 2013. He stayed on with the title of founding director. Alan Murray became the second president, and in October 2014, Michael Dimock was named president. Dimock had already spent 14 years at the center by the time he was selected.

• 3. What Pew Actually Does

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  Public opinion polling is the core of Pew's work, but the methods extend well beyond a simple survey. The center runs random sample surveys, panel-based surveys that follow respondents over time, and media content analysis. It also conducts demographic research and other forms of empirical social science inquiry.

  The range of topics the center covers is wide. Pew researchers study U.S. politics, international affairs, immigration, race and ethnicity, religion, generational differences, gender, LGBTQ rights, family structure, the economy, science attitudes, internet use, and news habits. Methodological research is itself a named topic area, reflecting the center's ongoing interest in how surveys are designed and what makes them reliable.

  For work specifically on global religious demographics, the center has drawn additional funding from the Templeton Foundation alongside its primary backer, the Pew Charitable Trusts.

• 4. Structure and Independence

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  Pew operates as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization under the 501(c)(3) designation. It is a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which serves as its main funder. That relationship means Pew does not need to sell its findings or secure advertising revenue to survive.

  The center is also a charter member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research's Transparency Initiative. That membership signals a commitment to disclosing how surveys are conducted, not just what they found. In a field where methodology is everything, that kind of structural accountability matters.

  Pew's stated policy is that it does not take positions on policy questions. That posture is built into its identity as a fact-finding institution rather than an advocacy organization, a distinction that shapes every study it publishes.