Who's Following Economic U, 5 Economy Bear Stearns
Public attention to reports about the condition of the U.S. economy reached a 15 year high last week with 45% of the public following this news very closely. This is up from two weeks prior when 38% reported following news about the U.S. economy very closely and substantially higher than last fall when less than three-in-ten followed U.S. economic news very closely. The last time the condition of the U.S. economy drew this much attention was in February 1993 when 49% of the public said they followed economic news very closely.
The big economic news story last week was the buyout of Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns by J.P. Morgan Chase with the financial backing of the Federal Reserve. Almost half of the public said that they followed news about the buyout either very closely (21%) or fairly closely (26%), but the story attracted far less interest than the condition of the U.S. economy in general (78% very or fairly closely). Those in the top income tiers paid closer attention to news about the Bear Stearns buyout than did those with lower annual incomes. Among those earning $75,000 annually, 27% reported following this story very closely compared to 17% of those earning between $30,000 and $49,999 and 16% of those earning less than $30,000. Income differences do not affect the level of attention paid to the condition of the U.S. economy in general.
Who's Following Economic  | News Very C losely?  | U, 5 Economy Bear Stearns  | 45  | Total  | 21  | Income  | o  | $75k+  | $50-74k  | $30-49k  | 48  | <$30k  | 16 