"Too much" coverage of Trayvon Martin?

Almost 40% of Americans say there's been "too much" coverage of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, FL about six weeks ago. This is from the respected Pew Research Center, it's not talk show blather…see the troubling details below.

Here is my poll result: 100% of the Americans I interviewed in the last 11 seconds (sample of one, me) believe that it's disgusting and horrible that an untrained, volunteer "community watch coordinator," with a legal license to carry a gun, shot and killed a 17-year-old stranger in his neighborhood in Florida one night, and the initial official reaction of the police is that under Florida law, there's really nothing they can do about it.

I don't want an untrained, volunteer "community watch coordinator" riding around my neighborhood at night, carrying a gun….

How about you?...in your neighborhood, where you and your beloved and your kids and your friends live, not in some other neighborhood where there is rampant gang violence and thugs and break-ins and drug dealing and stuff, how about in your neighborhood? Do you want an untrained, volunteer with a gun riding around in your neighborhood at night, for any reason?



POLL RESULTS FROM PEW RESEARCH CENTER

The Trayvon Martin shooting is the public’s top story for the second consecutive week. But interest in the teenager’s death is deeply divided along partisan, as well as racial, lines. These differences also are apparent in reactions to news coverage of the incident: Far more Republicans (56%) than Democrats (25%) say there has been too much coverage of Martin’s death.


The latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted March 29-April 1 among 1,000 adults, finds that 30% say they followed Martin’s death more closely than any other story, little changed from a week ago (25%).

As was the case last week, African Americans are far more likely than whites to say they are closely tracking news about the Florida teenager’s death. Fully 58% cite news about Trayvon Martin’s killing as their top story, compared with 24% of whites. Moreover, 43% of whites say the story has received too much coverage, compared with just 16% of blacks.

Democrats, regardless of race, are following Martin’s death more closely than are Republicans. Nearly four-in-ten Democrats (38%), including 31% of white Democrats, say the killing of Trayvon Martin is their top story; just 19% of Republicans are following this story most closely. More than half of Republicans (56%) say the story has been overcovered, compared with 25% of Democrats, including 33% of white Democrats.

Overall, 37% of the public say that news organizations are giving too much coverage to Martin’s death; about as many (40%) say the coverage has been about right. Just 14% say the story has gotten too little coverage.