Debt Limit Fight Tops News Interest, Coverage

Public Sees Debt Debate as Important, Hard to Understand

July 19, 2011

The debate over raising the federal debt limit proved to be the public's -- and the media's -- top news story last week as the federal government neared a possible default and high level deficit-reduction talks produced no agreement.

About three-in-ten (31%) say they followed the discussions about how to address the federal deficit and national debt more closely than any other story. Another 14% say they most closely followed news about the condition of the nation's struggling economy, according to the latest weekly News Interest Index survey conducted July 14-17 among 1,006 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

News about the debt limit debate made up 31% of the newshole, much more than any other story. More general news about the state of the economy accounted for 4% of coverage, while state and local budget woes accounted for another 1%, according to a separate analysis by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).

Looking at a separate measure of interest, 34% of the public says they followed news about the debt talks very closely. That's up from 25% one week earlier. Still, it falls short of the 47% who very closely followed the final days of the April budget standoff between the White House and congressional Republicans that nearly led to a government shutdown.

Many apparently do not see a similar sense of urgency in the debt limit debate. While four-in-ten (40%) say that, from what they've read and heard, it is absolutely essential that the federal debt limit be raised by Aug. 2 to avoid an economic crisis, about as many (39%) say the country can go past this date without major economic problems, according to a separate Pew Research/Washington Post poll released Monday.

While Republicans and Democrats offer differing perspectives on that question, partisans express comparable levels of interest in the debt limit story. Nearly four-in-ten in each (38%) say they followed news about the debate very closely last week; 31% of independents also say this.

The debate, though, is attracting greater interest from Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who agree with the Tea Party movement. Among that group, 52% say they followed news about the debt limit debate very closely last week. Among Republicans and GOP-leaners who do not agree with the Tea Party or have no opinion of it, 27% followed very closely.

Debt Limit Debate Seen as Important but Hard to Understand

An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that the debate over the nation's debt limit is important to people like themselves (90%), while nearly seven-in-ten (68%) say it is interesting. The public is more narrowly divided on whether the debate is tough to understand. Just more than half (52%) say it is hard to understand, while 44% say it is easy to understand. Differences among partisans on these questions are slim.

The overall numbers are similar to public assessments of last year's debate over financial regulatory changes or the debate in late 2009 over health care reform legislation. Still, in both of those earlier debates, greater numbers said the topics were hard to understand. In December 2009, for example, 69% said the health care debate was hard to understand, while 29% said it was easy to grasp.

Among partisans, 51% of Republicans, 54% of Democrats and 53% of independents say the deficit and debt limit debate is hard to understand. But that number drops to 42% among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who say they agree with the Tea Party movement. Among Republicans and Republican-leaners that do not agree with the Tea Party, nearly six-in-ten (59%) say the issue is hard to understand.

Continue reading the full report, including opinion on the News of the World scandal, as well as the topline questionnaire and survey methodology at people-press.org.