Andrew Price
Former Web Editor, GOOD.is
- September 29, 2009 • 3:50 pm PDT
- + responses
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
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
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