Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
In their first major presidential debate June 13, the Republican candidates sketched out a cautious approach to U.S. global engagement that would represent a departure from the policies of the Bush administration. Yet their ideas are very much in tune with the evolving views of the GOP base. In the Pew Research Center’s political typology […]
Staunch Conservatives 9% OF ADULT POPULATION /11% OF REGISTERED VOTERS Basic Description: This extremely partisan Republican group is strongly conservative on economic and social policy and favors an assertive foreign policy. They are highly engaged in politics, most (72%) agree with the Tea Party, 54% regularly watch Fox News, and nearly half (47%) believe that […]
The stalemate over deficit reduction and the entry of another candidate into the crowded 2012 presidential race made the economy and election the two leading stories last week. Meanwhile media attention to Afghanistan fell dramatically, highlighting the episodic and uneven coverage of that decade-old conflict.
Coverage of the economy ballooned last week with the high stakes political skirmishing over the deficit and debt limit, while on the other side of the Atlantic the scandal enveloping Rupert Murdoch’s media empire generated a significant increase in media attention in the U.S.
Coverage of the U.S. economy led the news agenda for the third week in a row, thanks to some drama in the deficit talks. The unexpected conclusion to a high profile trial generated plenty of press attention while a major British media scandal made its way across the Atlantic.
Though the economy topped the mainstream news agenda, Obama’s troop drawdown announcement gave Afghanistan its biggest week of coverage in a year. And while mainstay subjects—the campaign and the Mid-East—continued to make news, the surprise arrest of one of the FBI’s most wanted dominated the end of the week.