News Interest Index: Tax Cut Deal Captures Public and Media Attention

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News Interest Index: Tax Cut Deal Captures Public and Media Attention

Americans closely tracked news last week about the agreement between President Obama and Republican congressional leaders to temporarily extend Bush-era tax cuts, aid for the unemployed and certain tax breaks intended to help the struggling economy.

About three-in-ten (29%) say they followed news about the deal more closely than any other major story. Another 17% say they most closely followed news about the economy in general, according to the latest News Interest Index survey conducted Dec. 9-12 among 1,011 adults.

News about the economy – and efforts to spark greater growth – dominated news coverage as well. A third (33%) of news coverage last week focused specifically on the agreement reached between the White House and GOP leaders, according to a separate analysis by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).  More general reporting on the economy accounted for another 7% of the newshole. People paid attention to both storylines: 69% say they followed news about the economy either very (39%) or fairly closely (30%), while 66% say they followed news about the tax deal either very (37%) or fairly closely (29%).

Read the full report, Tax Cut Deal Captures Public and Media Attention on the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press' Web site.

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