News Interest Index: Elections Dominate Coverage, Not Public Interest

While the 2010 midterm congressional elections dominated media coverage last week, the public focused more on news about the nation's struggling economy.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of the public says they followed news about the economy more closely than any other major story. Just 6% say they followed news about this year's congressional elections most closely, according to the latest News Interest Index survey of 1,010 adults conducted Sept. 23-26 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

The midterm election campaign accounted for 25% of news coverage, almost double the 13% given to news about the economy, according to a separate analysis by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).

Read the full report, Elections Dominate Coverage, Not Public Interest on the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press' Web site.