Most Americans Following Gulf Story, Poll Finds : News survey: 62% of the respondents paid close attention to the crisis. Nearly half kept track of the plight of U.S. hostages in Iraq.

For the fourth month in a row, Americans paid extraordinary attention to news of the Persian Gulf crisis--even though the issue was largely ignored by candidates in this month’s elections--according to a survey released today.

And although Democrats hope that their call for economic fairness will bring them closer to the White House, the survey shows that most Americans are unaware even of the results of the budget debate.

These are two of the findings in the November Times Mirror News Interest Index, a monthly survey that measures public response to the news. The surveys are conducted by the Times Mirror Center for People & the Press, an operation of Times Mirror, which owns the Los Angeles Times and other media enterprises.

A total of 62% of Americans paid close attention to news about the Persian Gulf. No other story has held such intense public interest over so prolonged a period in the two years that Times Mirror has conducted these monthly surveys. The plight of American hostages in Iraq was closely followed by 49%.

Americans also began paying more attention to news of the economy, as much as after the October, 1987, stock market crash. In both instances, 40% followed the stories.

And 34% of respondents said that they had paid very close attention to the budget negotiations in Congress, although most were left confused. Only 46% knew that Congress adjourned having reached a budget agreement, while 30% thought it had not, and 24% had no idea.

Some evidence suggests that respondents did not recognize many differences between the final budget deal and the one negotiated earlier by the White House and congressional leaders. For instance, even among those who were aware of the budget agreement, public support was virtually identical to the earlier plan--35% in favor, 47% opposed.

While analysts believe that the recent elections reflected widespread discontent with Washington, Americans had little grasp of the lawmaking that Congress and the White House had actually done.

Only one new law penetrated public consciousness--the banning of smoking on all domestic flights was recognized by 64%.

And some evidence suggests that President Bush might feel little political fallout from legislation he had vetoed. For instance, 27% thought that Bush had signed a civil rights bill into law. Only 29% knew that he had not. Likewise, 19% thought that he had signed into law the family leave bill, while 23% knew that he had not.

This ignorance of legislation was just as evident among those most affected. Only 29% of non-whites knew that the civil rights bill was vetoed, for instance. And only 20% of women under age 40 knew that the family leave bill was vetoed.

More generally, 32% of Americans said they paid very close attention to criticisms of President Bush for changing his mind on taxes and for being seemingly inconsistent in his statements about the Persian Gulf. Democrats paid closer attention to these stories (38%) than Republicans (28%).

The survey, which interviewed 1,208 adults Nov. 8-11, has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.