Sputnik News Agency Reveals Top Challenges for US Society

According to the results of a new poll released by Sputnik.Polls, an international public opinion research project conducted jointly with British ICM Research, cultural issues of race and ethnicity have become predominant in the United States.

MOSCOW, January 22 (Sputnik) – Sputnik.Polls was launched July 2014 to document social, political and cultural trends in the United States and Europe. The mission of Sputnik.Polls is to survey and publish the opinions of ordinary people in Europe and the United States on high-profile and current international issues.

When asked in a recent US poll conducted from December 5-17, 2014, if racial and ethnic differences were among the most serious problems in today’s US society, an overwhelming majority of respondents in the US (67 percent) said they fully agree or mostly agree. Only 21 percent of respondents did not think so.

According to the Sputnik.Polls survey, Americans are divided on the issue of arming police. Of those polled, 48 percent believe that police should have more weapons, while 46 percent say police should have fewer weapons. As many as 59 percent of young Americans aged 18-34 believe that police should have fewer weapons, while 39 percent disagree. Older Americans polled differently. Of those over the age of 45, 55 percent expressed the opinion that police should have more weapons.

Over 1,000 people were polled, with the sampling-based criteria of gender, age and geographical location. The poll is released with a standard accuracy error factor of 3 percent plus or minus and a confidence level of 95 percent.

Sputnik.Polls international public opinion research project

The Sputnik.Polls international public opinion research project was started in 2014, in partnership with British public opinion survey leaders ICM Research.

Sputnik.Polls conducts regular opinion polls monitoring public opinion on current social, political and cultural trends in Europe and the United States.