Measuring News Interest Week of November 11-16 Percent who followed this story very closely Percent who named story as their most closely followed
The campaign also was the public’s top story last week, with 20% citing the news about the presidential candidates as the story they followed most closely. But nearly as many (17%) mentioned the situation in Iraq or news about U.S. soldiers returning home from the war (15%) as their top stories. Notably, news organizations devoted just 3% of coverage to the Iraq home front, including stories about Iraq war veterans.
Interest in events on the ground in Iraq also remained high last week: 31% followed the war very closely and 17% listed it as their most closely followed news story. The public continues to express less interest in the debate in Washington over U.S. policy in Iraq than in the war itself. Fewer than one-in-four (23%) followed that story very closely and 6% listed it as their most closely followed story.
More than a quarter of the public (26%) paid very close attention to the presidential campaign last week. Interest in the campaign is up modestly from October when, on average, 20% of the public was following campaign news very closely. Democrats continue to pay closer attention than Republicans to the campaign. Last week 34% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans were following the campaign very closely. Only 21% of independents were paying very close attention.
Measuring News Interest  | Week of November 11-16  | 26  | 2008 Campaign  | 20  | 31  | Situation in Iraq  | 31  | Iraq war veterans  | 15  | 20  | Pakistan  | 9  | 23  | Iraq policy  | 6  | Barry Bonds  | Percent who followed this story very closely  | Percent who named story as their most closely followed 