Health Care Still the Summer's Dominant Story

Despite the emergence of several major international stories - including an election in war-ravaged Afghanistan and the release of the so-called Lockerbie bomber, the public continued to be focused on domestic news - particularly the ongoing debate over health care reform. Fully 45% say they followed health care developments more closely than any other story last week. That's about the same level as the previous week (46% most closely) and twice the percentage that say they followed reports about the condition of the economy most closely (21%). Using a slightly different measure, half say they very closely followed news about the economy (50%) or the health care debate (49%), according to the latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted August 21-24 for the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Several significant events overseas attracted far less attention.