Insights & Analysis
Evidence-based commentary examining where America’s stated values collide with political behavior, public policy, culture, and everyday life.
Eight lenses for understanding moral strain
Browse the latest reporting below or use these themes to understand how each story fits the Index.
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Violent Crime Just Hit an 88-Year Low. 78% of Americans Still Think It’s Rising.
Violent crime in America just posted its steepest one-year drop since the Great Depression. Murders are down 18 percent. Robbery is down nearly 19…
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They Cloned Her Daughter’s Voice: Inside the AI Fraud Epidemic Targeting American Seniors
A Florida mother picked up the phone and heard her daughter’s voice, panicked, telling her she’d been in a car accident and needed money…
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Overdose Deaths Just Fell for a Third Straight Year. Here’s Why That’s Not Quite Good News.
For the first time in a generation, the trend line on America’s deadliest public health crisis is pointing down — and has been for…
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Civic Knowledge Is Rising. Trust in the Institutions That Apply It Just Collapsed.
For most of the last decade, the story told about American civic knowledge has been one of straightforward decline. This year, that story got…
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Childhood Obesity: The Epidemic We Normalized
🏥 Public Health ← Back to All Articles Children do not choose what they eat, how they spend their time, or what environments they…
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The Birth Rate Collapse: Why America Is Choosing Not to Have Children
💔 Marriage & Family ← Back to All Articles A society that stops having children has made a statement about itself — about its…
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Prison Recidivism: Why America’s Justice System Keeps Failing
🔒 Crime & Safety ← Back to All Articles Within ten years of release from state prison, 82% of formerly incarcerated Americans are arrested…
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Civic Freefall: Two-Thirds of Americans Fail the Citizenship Test
🏛 Civic Life ← Back to All Articles Two-thirds of Americans would fail the civics test required to become a naturalized citizen. That finding…
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The Wealth Gap Nobody in Washington Wants to Close
💰 Economy ← Back to All Articles The richest 1 percent of American households now hold $55 trillion in wealth — roughly the same…
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Falling for a Chatbot: Inside America’s Growing Romance with AI
🤖 Technology ← Back to All Articles Twenty-eight percent of American adults say they’ve had an intimate or romantic relationship with an AI. Not…
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Vaping Nation: The Youth Nicotine Epidemic America Keeps Declaring Over
🚬 Health ← Back to All Articles The CDC keeps announcing that youth vaping is falling. It is — and 1.13 million American high…
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The Jobs America Is Quietly Losing to AI
🤖 Technology ← Back to All Articles In 2025, American employers blamed artificial intelligence for nearly 55,000 announced layoffs — and that number only…