Is Egypt Americans' Top Concern?

There is currently a great deal of interest in public opinion relating to the crisis in Egypt. My colleagueDalia Mogahed testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week about her research on reactions in Egypt and the Muslim world to the events in Egypt. My colleagues and I have beenreporting on a series of findings related to domestic public opinion about Egypt. My colleagues Jon Clifton and Lymari Morales reported on trends in well-being in Egypt and other countries in the region.

Even at this early point in the Egyptian crisis, we have learned a lot about public opinion, both in Egypt and here in the United States. I'm particularly interested in measures of Americans' views of the relativeimportance of what is happening in Egypt.

The news media naturally tends to give intense focus to whatever happens to be the story of the day. This springs out of the conviction on the part of news gatekeepers that circulation, hits, and ratings depend on dominating the coverage of a hot story. (Political operatives have also learned that they need to react quickly and strongly to any news development that affects their candidate.) CNN has long practiced this philosophy of extended and expanded news coverage, under the assumption that when there is a major news story, people come to the network looking for everything there is to know about it.

One of the natural results of this process of massive coverage of the top news stories of the day or week is the creation of the perception that a particular news story is of overwhelming, dramatic importance for the U.S. and the world.

But for those who may be setting policy or making concrete decisions, a check of representative public opinion can perform the positive function of putting a news event into perspective. The American public sits out across the land in some ways like a jury or focus group. The news swirls by them on an hourly and daily basis. It's useful to see what "sticks" with the public and what doesn't.

Let's take current U.S. public opinion about the Egyptian situation as an example. Despite the intense media focus on Egypt, Americans appear to be fairly mild in their calculations of its importance. There is minimal evidence that the average American considers the Egypt situation to be a major international crisis as far as its impact on the United States is concerned.

Egypt barely registers when Americans are asked to name the most important problem facing the country today. Domestic economic issues and in particular jobs overwhelm every other concern. The Feb 2-5 Gallup survey finds .5% (5 people out of 1015) mentioning Egypt as the most important problem.

Less than half of Americans say what happens in Egypt is vitally important to the U.S. Egypt ranks 9th on a list of 12 countries rated on this dimension. China dwarfs all other countries as vitally important, no doubt reflecting its economic prowess in today's international marketplace. Other countries seen as at least marginally more important than Egypt to U.S. interests include North Korea, Iran, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Mexico, and Pakistan.

Americans are certainly not ignoring Egypt. Sixty-nine percent of Americans are paying attention to the news out of Egypt. That puts the story above the median 60% attention level Americans have given to the average news story Gallup has tested over the years.

Still, Americans apparently don't believe that what is happening in Egypt rises to the level of a crisis for the U.S. It may be that Americans recognize that what is happening in that country is more important for Egyptian citizens than it is for Americans. Some might argue that Americans are under-informed or not aware of the real impact of regime change in Egypt.

And, of course, there is the fact that Americans remain highly focused on domestic concerns -- including jobs in particular. Even within the international sphere, it appears that what happens in countries like China (and North Korea and Iran) is more important to the average American than what happens in Egypt.

All of this leads me to the point of caution when I'm asked to opine about the effect of the Egyptian situation on President Obama's job approval ratings, or on other measures of Americans' moods. There are other factors out there that appear to be more likely to affect these measures than what is happening in Egypt.