We’re Paying More Attention to the News These Days
- Posted by: Andrew Price
- on September 29, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Good news: Americans may be paying closer attention to the people who run the country and how they’re running it. That’s according to a new poll from Gallup that found “Americans are paying closer attention to political news today than in any year without a presidential election since Gallup began regularly tracking this measure in 2001.”
So this is great, right? Well, probably. But here’s a caveat: Telling Gallup that you’re paying close attention to the news isn’t necessarily the same as actually being informed. Some news isn’t worth paying attention to (watching Glenn Beck, for example, will only confuse you), and some people probably scan headlines online, and so feel like they’re paying attention, without absorbing much.
It would be interesting to pair this poll with some actual questions about current political issues. If, as a nation, we are becoming more informed about politics, that’s unequivocally good news for the health of democracy in America.
Via Matt Yglesias
DISCUSSION: 4 Comments
I think the qualification of the news not necessarily being intelligent or enlightening is a good point. If everyone were watching Democracy Now on the other hand, then there would be cause for celebration as we’d actually have an informed populace.
I’m just glad that more people are paying attention to what is going on. Now we just have to wait and see if it actually starts to sink in and people start to think more rationally. Maybe someday instead of resorting to shouting about why people are wrong, we will listen to what they have to say and make a reasonable conclusion about what is best. Maybe, someday.
Exactly. These results might just be a reflection of the “news” becoming more sexy and attention-grabbing at the expense of accuracy or substance. Naturally, people pay more attention to wild-eyed pundits flailing their arms about than to boring, old-fashioned reports about what is actually occurring.
It’s also interesting that the numbers are so low in 2001 and 2002. Those were the crazy post-9/11, anthrax-scare years when people were really on edge. What gives?