Measuring News Interest Percent following each
More than four-in-ten (45%) say they followed news about the condition of the economy very closely last week. The economic crisis accounted for 18% of the newshole. About four-in-ten (39%) say they followed the debate over health care reform very closely, a level little changed in recent weeks. While the health care debate was a significant part of assessments of Obama’s speech and his first year in office, stories that focused primarily on this debate made up just 3% of the coverage analyzed by PEJ.
A third of Americans (33%) say they followed news about Obama’s State of the Union speech very closely, a level comparable to the 37% that said they followed his first speech to Congress on Feb. 24, 2009 very closely. In early 2008, just 18% said they followed George W. Bush’s last State of the Union address very closely. This year, 8% say they followed the speech more closely than any other major story; reporting on the speech made up 19% of the newshole.
About two-in-ten (21%) say they followed news about the widespread recall of Toyota cars and trucks – and a temporary halt to sales of certain models – because of problems with sudden acceleration. Just 5% say this is the story they followed most closely. Toyota’s troubles made up 4% of the newshole.
Measuring News Interest  | Percent following each  | Which one story did you  | follow "most story closely"?  | story "very closely.  | Haiti 45  | 40  | Health care 39  | 18  | Econom " 45  | 15  | 5 8  | State of the Union 33  | Toyota recall 21  | 23  | Iraq 