ESPN has been hyping the World Cup for weeks, showing video from venues across the country where large crowds have gathered to watch the US play. But it's a mirage. Only about 17% of Americans are showing interest in the World Cup soccer matches as opposed to 21% who are following the IRS lost emails story and 26% following events in Iraq. Pew Research: So far, the growing crisis in Iraq has not drawn strong interest from the American public. As Sunni militants extend their control of large swaths of Iraq, 25% say they are paying very close attention to the growing violence and political instability in Iraq. By comparison, 28% of Americans surveyed June 26-29 say they followed news about problems with care at veterans’ hospitals very closely and 21% paid very close attention to news about the IRS losing employee emails. The new national survey by the Pew Research Center conducted among 1,002 adults finds that fewer Americans tracked news about the World Cup...(Read Full Post)