There are fewer unifying news moments in the modern era, given our fragmented media landscape and polarized lenses into current events. But some things still manage to break through, to quickly capture the attention of most Americans.

Things like a governor writing a book in which she admits shooting and killing a 14-month-old dog.

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That would be South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R), as you are probably aware. The Guardian obtained a copy of Noem’s memoir last month and reported on the dog-killing anecdote on April 25. Within a week, most Americans told YouGov that they had heard at least a little about the incident.

More than a quarter of Democrats said they had heard a lot about the story, compared with fewer than 1 in 5 Republicans. Those who indicated they plan to vote for former president Donald Trump in November were more likely than Republicans overall to have heard about the story.

Coverage of the story has varied by cable news network. CNN and MSNBC have mentioned Noem nearly 200 times since it broke. Fox News has mentioned her no more than 20 times, including hosting her for a friendly interview in which she defended her actions.

Even with that disparity, interest in the Noem story has been high. Google search interest in the governor was for several days at or near interest in President Biden — consistently one of the most-searched political figures in America.

The natural question that follows, of course, is how people view Noem’s action. Among those who had heard about the incident, about a third either weren’t sure of their opinion or viewed it as acceptable. Two-thirds said it was unacceptable. (YouGov didn’t find a significant difference between those who did and didn’t have a dog.)

Among Republicans, the split was narrower. About a quarter of members of her party said the action was acceptable, and another quarter said they weren’t sure. Just under half found it unacceptable.

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But among those planning to vote for Trump in November, the gap was smaller still. Trump supporters were only seven points more likely to say the action was unacceptable than they were to say it was acceptable, the smallest split of any group. A third of Trump supporters said it was acceptable.

Good news for Noem, given that she has been discussed as being in the mix as Trump considers a running mate. Relative to YouGov polling conducted a month ago, Republicans (and Republican-leaning independents) are slightly less likely to approve of Trump picking Noem as his running mate, with a bigger drop in those saying they strongly approve.

There hasn’t been much change in this group among those who say they don’t have an opinion on the question — despite the surge in press attention that Noem has earned.

The bigger question for a vice-presidential pick, of course, is how the person is viewed by the public at large. Again, despite the flurry of media mentions, most Americans say they don’t have an opinion of Noem. Few have a favorable opinion of her. On net, independents and Americans overall who have an opinion of Noem are more likely to view her negatively than positively.

If there’s any good news for Noem here, it’s twofold. First, the dog-killing story got a lot of attention — but it didn’t hurt her standing with Republicans as much as you might expect. Second, the story is likely to fade from public attention as the media turns to other more recent developments.

But then we return to the bad news for Noem: One of those more recent developments is a new question about another aspect of her book.

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