--- title: "Christie Story Attracts Little Public Interest" description: "Survey Report The public paid far more attention to last week’s cold snap than to the controversy swirling around New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. There also has been little short-term change in opinions about Christie: 60% say their opinion of Christie has not changed in recent days, while 16% now view him less favorably and […]" date: "2014-01-13" authors: - name: "Pew Research Center" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/13/christie-story-attracts-little-public-interest/" categories: - "Leaders" - "News Coverage" datasets: - name: "January 9-12 2014 Weekly Survey" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/dataset/january-9-12-2014-weekly-survey/" --- # Christie Story Attracts Little Public Interest ## Table of Contents 1. [Christie Story Attracts Little Public Interest](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/13/christie-story-attracts-little-public-interest/markdown) - [This Week’s News](#this-weeks-news) 2. [About the Survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/13/about-the-survey-150/markdown) ## Survey Report [![Views of Chris Christie Largely Unchanged in Recent Days](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/01/1-14-2014_1.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/13/christie-story-attracts-little-public-interest/1-14-2014_1/) The public paid far more attention to last week’s cold snap than to the controversy swirling around New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. There also has been little short-term change in opinions about Christie: 60% say their opinion of Christie has not changed in recent days, while 16% now view him less favorably and 6% more favorably. The national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Jan. 9-12 among 1,006 adults, finds that just 18% paid very close attention to Christie’s apology on Jan. 9 for the highway lane closures ordered by his aides. By contrast, 44% very closely followed news about the cold winter weather that gripped much of the U.S. and 28% tracked news about the economy. The release of a book by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates that criticized the Obama administration drew even less interest than news about Christie. Just 11% followed news about Gates’ book very closely. [![Winter Weather Leads News Interest](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/01/1-14-2013_2.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/13/christie-story-attracts-little-public-interest/1-14-2013_2/) The survey finds that majorities of Republicans (69%), Democrats (55%) and independents (60%) say that their opinion of Christie has not changed lately. Among Republicans, about as many say their opinion has become more favorable (9%) as less favorable (10%). More Democrats say their opinion has become less favorable (25%) than more favorable (3%). Among independents, 14% say their opinion of Christie has become less favorable and 6% more favorable. [![More or Less Favorable Opinion of Christie over Last Few Days?](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/01/1-14-2013_3.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/13/christie-story-attracts-little-public-interest/1-14-2013_3/) Those who followed news about Christie’s apology at least fairly closely are more likely to have changed their opinions about the New Jersey government in recent days. Nonetheless, 57% of those who tracked news about Christie say their opinion of him has not changed; 29% say it has become less favorable, while 11% say it has become more favorable. Republicans are about as likely as Democrats to have followed the Christie story at least fairly closely last week (43% vs. 46%). Like Republicans overall, those who followed the story at least fairly closely are closely divided between those who are more favorable to Christie (18%) and less favorable (17%), with 62% saying their opinion hasn’t changed. Democrats who closely followed Christie’s apology have come to have sharply less favorable opinions of Christie: 43% say their opinion is now less favorable, 3% more favorable, and half (50%) say their opinion hasn’t changed. ### This Week’s News The most closely followed story of the week was the cold winter weather that swept much of the country. About three-quarters of the public followed the news very closely (44%) or fairly closely (32%). Attention was lowest in the West, where 28% paid very close attention to the news, compared with 55% of those in the Midwest, 51% of those in the East and 43% of those in the South. About three-in-ten (28%) very closely followed reports about the U.S. economy, while two-in-ten (19%) very closely tracked the debate in Washington over extending long-term unemployment benefits. Overall, 18% say they followed news about Christie’s apology for the lane closures ordered by his aides very closely. Interest in this story was higher in the East (26% very closely) and Midwest (23%) than in the South or West (14% each). Just one-in-ten (11%) very closely followed news about former Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new book, in which he is critical of the Obama administration. An identical percentage (11%) paid very close attention to the fighting in and around the Iraqi city of Fallujah. More Republicans (17%) than Democrats (7%) very closely followed the story last week. --- **Next:** [About the Survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/01/13/about-the-survey-150.md)