From Rasmussen Reports…
Voters Follow Unemployment, Jobs, Gulf Oil Leak Stories Closest in 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
In a year loaded with news, voters in 2010 paid most attention to stories about unemployment and job creation, the disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the health care debate and the extension of the Bush tax cuts.
In our ongoing nightly national tracking polls, we routinely ask Americans how closely they have followed recent news stories about the topic we’re asking about - Very Closely, Somewhat Closely, Not Very Closely, Not At All Closely, Not Sure. This gives us – and our readers – a better sense of what our survey totals really mean.
In September, 67% were following news about job creation and unemployment Very Closely.
News about the leak, triggered by an April 20 blast at a BP deepwater oil drilling platform, was being Very Closely followed by 64% of Likely U.S. Voters by mid-June. At various other times during the year, this story was followed Very Closely by most voters. In fact, five of the top 12 most closely followed stories involved the Gulf Oil Spill.
Just before passage of the new health care law in March, 59% were following news of the health care debate Very Closely.
In November, 59% Very Closely followed news about the possible extension of the Bush tax cuts.
A third story also attracted attention from 59%--the Times Square bombing attempt in May.
Other stories that broke into the top 10 list among voters this year—the Ground Zero mosque controversy and immigration. The mosque issue was attracting very little public interest until President Obama spoke on the topic and made it a national issue.
Click here to see the full list of how closely voters followed the topics we asked about in our political tracking surveys.
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