A wide-ranging Pew poll was released last week, and one of the things it covered was how aware the American public is when it comes to big stories in the news. A lot more people (54 percent) said they were following “very closely” the London terror plot than said they were following the war in Iraq (41 percent) or the fighting in Lebanon (40 percent). And a lot more people (60 percent) said they were following gas prices than the immigration issue (34 percent). And then this:

Regarding the public’s awareness of current news stories, most Americans were able to correctly name the Hollywood actor who recently made anti-Semitic remarks during a drunk driving arrest (69%); Mel Gibson was widely identified despite the fact that just 14% say they followed his outburst very closely. Far fewer Americans (40%) were able to name the Democratic senator who this month lost a primary election in Connecticut (Joe Lieberman). And roughly a third (35%) could identify Katie Couric as the soon-to-be anchor of the CBS Evening News.