Historically, rising gas prices have attracted broad public interest. A year ago, even more Americans (69%) followed news about gas prices very closely. This past week, interest in gas prices outstripped media coverage of the issue by a wide margin. The national news media devoted 4% of its coverage to gasoline prices, making it the sixth most heavily covered news story of the week.
The public's interest in gas prices goes beyond just knowing where to find the cheapest gallon of gas. A plurality of Americans (40%) say they are interested in learning about why gas prices are fluctuating nationally, while 30% want to hear about how rising gas prices are impacting the nation's economy. Only about a quarter (24%) say they are mainly interested in knowing the price of gas in their area.
Interest in gas prices cuts across most major demographic groups, but there are some groups who are following the subject more intensely than others. Fully 61% of those who have never attended college are following news about gas prices very closely, compared with 40% of college graduates. Older Americans are following the story more closely than are younger people (58% of those over age 50 vs. 48% of those under age 50 are following very closely). Democrats are somewhat more interested in news about gas prices than are Republicans (59% vs. 47%).
These findings are based on the most recent installment of the weekly News Interest Index, an ongoing project of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The index, building on the Center's longstanding research into public attentiveness to major news stories, examines news interest as it relates to the news media's agenda. The weekly survey is conducted in conjunction with The Project for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index, which monitors the news reported by major newspaper, television, radio and online news outlets on an ongoing basis.
Iraq and Immigration Draw an Audience
Aside from gas prices, news about the Iraq war continued to draw considerable public interest. A third followed news about the situation in Iraq very closely, while 23% said it was the story they followed most closely. In addition, 30% paid very close attention to the debate in Washington over U.S. policy in Iraq, and 10% said this was the story they followed most closely.
More than a quarter of the public paid very close attention to the debate in Congress over new immigration policy, and 12% listed this as their top story. Hispanics followed this story slightly more closely than did non-Hispanics (34% vs. 26% very closely). Republicans and Democrats followed the story in roughly equal proportions. The media devoted 10% of its coverage overall to the immigration debate, putting it on a par with the Iraq policy debate and events on the ground in Iraq.
The recent violence in Lebanon between militant groups and the Lebanese army received as much news coverage as the presidential campaign and more coverage than rising gas prices (6% overall). This was the second most covered story online, with online sources devoting 15% of their coverage to the conflict. However, the public paid relatively little attention to the events in Lebanon; just 15% followed the story very closely and 2% said it was the story they followed most closely last week.
About the News Interest Index
The News Interest Index is a weekly survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press aimed at gauging the public's interest in and reaction to major news events.
This project has been undertaken in conjunction with the Project for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index, an ongoing content analysis of the news. The News Coverage Index catalogues the news from top news organizations across five major sectors of the media: newspapers, network television, cable television, radio and the internet. Each week (from Sunday through Friday) PEJ will compile this data to identify the top stories for the week. The News Interest Index survey will collect data from Friday through Monday to gauge public interest in the most covered stories of the week.
Results for the weekly surveys are based on telephone interviews among a nationwide sample of approximately 1,000 adults, 18 years of age or older, conducted under the direction of ORC (Opinion Research Corporation). For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls, and that results based on subgroups will have larger margins of error.
For more information about the Project for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index, go to www.journalism.org.
About the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. We are sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts and are one of six projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.
The Center's purpose is to serve as a forum for ideas on the media and public policy through public opinion research. In this role it serves as an important information resource for political leaders, journalists, scholars, and public interest organizations. All of our current survey results are made available free of charge.
All of the Center's research and reports are collaborative products based on the input and analysis of the entire Center staff consisting of:
Andrew Kohut, Director
Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research
Carroll Doherty and Michael Dimock, Associate Directors
Carolyn Funk, Richard Wike and Kim Parker, Senior Researchers
Nilanthi Samaranayake, Survey and Data Manager
April Clark, Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Robert Suls, Shawn Neidorf and Dan Cox, Research Associates
James Albrittain, Executive Assistant
