Americans followed news about the nation’s economy more closely than any other news last week amid new signs the pace of the recovery has slowed.

A quarter of the public (25%) says their top story was reports about the condition of the U.S. economy, while 18% say they followed news about the 2012 presidential election most closely, according to the latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted May 3-6 among 999 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

In a week when no single story dominated coverage, the presidential campaign accounted for 15% of the newshole, according to a separate analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ). The drama unfolding in China over the fate of dissident Chen Guangcheng ranked second, accounting for 12%. News about the economy made up 9%. Despite heavy coverage of the China story, which has involved tense negotiations between the U.S. and China, public interest has been modest; 15% say they followed this story very closely, while 6% say this was the news they followed most closely.

Read the full report, Public Attention Focused on U.S. Economy, on the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press' website.