Survey: Public Prefers Tyson to Politics

While Washington may have focused on New Hampshire, most Americans paid more attention in February to the Mike Tyson rape trial, the Winter Olympics and news about the economy, according to a new survey.

Nearly a quarter of Americans questioned cited the Tyson trial as the story that they followed most closely, according to The Times Mirror News Interest Index, a survey that measures public response to the news. Two in 10 followed the Winter Olympics most, and 14% followed the economy. Only 6% followed the Democratic primary in New Hampshire most closely, and only 4% the Republican primary there.

The survey, involving 1,227 adults Feb. 20 through 23, has a statistical margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Americans said they followed several stories “very closely.” Nearly half said they paid very close attention to economic news and a third paid similarly close attention to the Winter Olympics, the Tyson trial and to reports that Japanese leaders called American workers “lazy.”

The survey reinforced just how dominant television is in politics. Forty-one percent of Americans said they got “all” of their information about the campaign from television alone. Slightly fewer, 38%, said they received information about the campaign from television and newspapers combined.

And only 9% of Americans said they get their political news solely from reading.

Overall, 80% said they received “most” of their political news from television, 49% cited newspapers (a higher number than said they were even reading newspapers), 18% named radio and 4% named magazines. Two answers were accepted by the survey for this question.

But whatever the source of the information, it appeared that specific political messages were not getting through. Only 13% could match the campaign theme of “put America first” with conservative Republican Patrick J. Buchanan. The highest percentage, just 17% associated George Bush with the theme that the middle class should be given a tax cut, while only 9% associated that theme with Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, a Democrat. Both politicians have embraced the idea.

Sixteen percent correctly associated former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, also a Democrat, with the theme that business and government should form a partnership to improve American economic competitiveness.

The Times Mirror Center is affiliated with Times Mirror Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times and other newspaper, broadcasting and publishing enterprises.