Measuring News Interest Week of April 16
In other news this week, 28% of the public paid very close attention to the situation in Iraq, while 22% closely followed the debate in Washington about Iraq policy. Interest in the 2008 presidential campaign was unchanged from the previous week – 18% followed news about the candidates very closely, and another 28% followed campaign news fairly closely. Democrats continue to follow the campaign more closely than Republicans.
In spite of Gonzales’s long-awaited testimony, fewer than 20% of the public paid very close attention to the continuing saga surrounding why eight U.S. attorneys were fired by the Justice Department. This is another story Democrats have consistently followed more closely than Republicans. This past week 27% of Democrats vs. 11% of Republicans paid very close attention to the story.
The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act was followed very closely by 21% of the public. Though the ruling may have been overshadowed in part by the events at Virginia Tech, public interest was not far below that of other abortion rulings by the Court over the past 10-20 years. When the Court ruled in 2000 that a Nebraska law banning late-term abortion was unconstitutional, only 15% of the public followed the decision very closely. However, 28% of the public paid very close attention to the Court’s deliberations on Pennsylvania abortion restrictions in 1992. The Court’s ruling in the 1989 Webster case attracted much more public interest – 47% followed that decision very closely. Women paid slightly more attention to last week’s abortion ruling than did men. Democrats and Republicans followed the story in about equal proportions.
Measuring News Interest  | Week of April 16  | 45  | Virginia Tech  | 56  | 28  | Situation in Iraq  | 13  | 18  | US attorneys  | 4 22 4 21 4  | Iraq policy  | Abortion ruling  | 18  | 2008 Campaign  | 4  | Percent who followed this story very closely  | Percent who named story as their most closely followed 