Doug Henwood wrote:
>
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> Seven-in-ten Americans say they have paid very close attention to
> news of the hurricane's impact,
"Close attention" (privately defined, I presume, by the resondents) is an iffy concept. Some would not say they had paid "close attention" unless they had spent at least an hour or two a day reading varied accounts. Others might mean tht they paused in their work while Sally in the next cubicle commented on it to Joe standing outside it. Also there's the matter of the framework of the attention. A couple hors ago I read through two issues of Science News that had arrived while we were out of town. None of the stories particularly "fit" any of my interests and I've already forgotten even the topics of all but two or three.
But if 70% of Americans say they paid close attention to an issue, that _does_ definitely establish that (however little or much they actually know) they regard it as an issue that is _worth_ close attention. That is somehting.
Carrol