News Interest Index: Obama Speech on Race Arguably Biggest Event of Campaign

Barack Obama's March 18th speech on race and politics is arguably the biggest political event of the campaign so far. Fully 85% of Americans say they heard at least a little about Obama's speech, and most (54%) say they heard a lot about it.

Not surprisingly, Barack Obama has been far and away the most visible of the presidential candidates over the past week - 70% say they have heard more about him in the news than the other candidates, compared with 15% who cite Hillary Clinton and just 3% who say they have heard the most about John McCain. As recently as three weeks ago, Obama and Clinton were equally visible in the news.

Roughly half of Americans (49%) saw videos of Reverend Wright's sermons, and roughly the same number (51%) watched Barack Obama's speech about race and politics last week. Television was the predominant source for video of these news items, however the internet also played a role.

Read the full report Obama and Wright Controversy Dominate News Cycle on the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press Web site.