Despite the long-term federal deficit being the issue that has come to basically dominate congress for months, it is neither the top nor even the second biggest concern of the American people right now. From Gallup:

What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today? July 2011

Given that the federal deficit is basically the only thing that almost every major political figure has been talking about, the fact that the deficit only ranks as a top issue with 16 percent of the country is truly remarkable. I suspect the issue wouldn’t even rise above single digits if  politicians and pundits hadn’t been continuously force feeding the public deficit hysteria for months.

With official unemployment over 9 percent and Treasury rates extremely low, what the American people are rightfully worried about are jobs and the weak economy. They know these issues are big problems at a deeply personal level.