Congress may be in recess, but August is shaping up to be a busy month here at PRRI.

In an interview on State of Belief, our very own CEO Dr. Robert Jones discussed how the findings of PRRI’s latest survey, which reveal the importance of Americans’ perceptions of religious differences for presidential candidates, may play out in the 2012 election.

PRRI CEO Dr. Robert P. Jones speaks with Rev. C. Welton Gaddy of State of BeliefAnd research from PRRI’s groundbreaking Millennials, Religion, and Abortion Survey was featured in both a CNN opinion piece and a Associated Press new story.

In her CNN opinion piece, Laura Sessions Stepp looks to the Millennial Generation as a beacon of hope for a more civil and productive government, citing PRRI’s findings:

A recent national survey of adults suggests that today’s 18- to 29-year-olds not only value civil debate, but also place a higher value on fairness when it comes to hot-button social issues.
The survey, compiled by the Public Religion Research Institute, showed millennials supporting equal rights for gays and lesbians in significantly larger proportions than older adults. Their concept of equity also applied to the most contentious issue of all: abortion.
When asked whether abortion was morally acceptable, 46% of them said yes, a proportion roughly the same as other age groups polled. Sixty percent of them said abortion should be legal, again mirroring older age groups.

Although the recent decision by HHS that requires health insurers to cover the cost of birth control as a preventive service has raised the ire of Catholic hospitals, the Associated Press looks at PRRI data to show Americans, specifically Catholic women, are in strong support of access to birth control:

For example, a survey earlier this year by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute found that 89 percent of Catholic women favored expanding access to birth control for women who cannot afford it, with 8 percent opposed. Birth control use is virtually universal in the U.S., according to the government.

If you’re interested in reading more about PRRI’s research, click here.