News Interest Index: Public Hearing More Negative News About Economy

From January through May, a growing proportion of Americans said they were hearing a mix of good and bad news about the economy. More recently, however, there has been a steady increase in the share saying that the economic news is mostly bad.

Currently, 41% say they are hearing mostly bad news about the economy, edging up from 37% in June but 10 points higher than in May (31%). Over the past two months, the proportion reporting they are hearing a mix of good and bad news has fallen from 64% to 56%. Very few Americans (3% currently) continue to say they are hearing mostly good news about the economy.

The latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted July 2-5 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, finds that Americans are continuing to closely track news about the sudden death of pop singer Michael Jackson. A quarter of the public (25%) say they followed stories about Jackson's death very closely last week, down slightly from the 30% a week earlier.

Read the full report Public Hearing More Negative News About Economy on the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press' Web site.