Public Found Most Interested in China, Court

WASHINGTON —  Americans paid more attention to political upheaval in China and the Supreme Court decisions on flag burning and abortion than they did to the great majority of news stories over the last three years, a new survey by Times Mirror Co. has found.

Nearly half of Americans followed these stories “very closely,” making them three of the top 10 stories since the survey began three years ago. The story commanding the greatest public interest in that time--drawing the close attention of 80% of Americans--was the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

By contrast, only two in ten of those surveyed followed stories about betting allegations involving Pete Rose, and fewer than that followed the current scandal at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the political changes in Poland.

Only 14% of Americans surveyed could identify Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) as the Speaker of the House.

The survey, called the Times Mirror News Interest Index, was conducted for Times Mirror by the Gallup Organization, which interviewed 1,253 adults from July 6 through 9. The survey has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points, and Gallup noted that the wording of survey questions and other methodology also can introduce error or bias into the sample.

Of the seven stories tested during the period, the fourth most closely followed was the trial of Oliver L. North, which commanded close attention of fewer than four in 10 Americans.

The abortion ruling seemed to concern women far more than men, with 53% versus 39% paying very close attention.

Abortion Right Backed

According to the survey, the women closely following the abortion story were overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining a constitutional right to abortion. Sixty-one percent reported they supported retaining the Roe vs. Wade court precedent establishing the right, while 36% favored overturning it.

But this overall group was divided over such issues as whether the law should require fetal viability tests (57% in support), disallow abortions in public hospitals (47%) and require parental consent (59%).

Despite the high level of attention paid to the abortion issue, many Americans still were confused about the facts. Only about half of all adults--roughly the same number that were closely following the story--could correctly answer that the court’s ruling this month had made it easier for the states to restrict abortions. About two in 10 thought the court had made it easier to get an abortion.