Poll: Americans not actually that worried about the deficit

(Right, we are worried about jobs, first and foremost. The deficit takes a backseat--as does everything else--to job creation. The private sector is doing everything they can to eliminate jobs or outsource them overseas, so the govt. better do something, or the Democrats will suffer heavy losses in the upcoming mid-terms.--jef)

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BY ALEX PAREENE | FRIDAY, AUG 13, 2010

Are you worried about the deficit? If you're a professional elite opinion-haver from New York or Washington, you almost certainly are. If you are some other American, you might know that you are supposed to be concerned about the deficit. But odds are, if you are not paid to ghostwrite Mort Zuckerman columns, you are more concerned with getting a job than making sure the debt-to-GDP ratio stays below some certain arbitrarily decided percentage. According to Gallup, 58% of Americans say the most important problem facing the country is either the economy or unemployment. 7% say the federal deficit.

Obviously that's just spend-happy liberals skewing the result, right? RealAmerican Independents -- the only Americans who truly matter -- must be super-worried about the deficit, because they read about how bad it is in Forbes, right? Nope. 7% of self-described independents think the deficit is the most important problem facing America, once again losing out to unemployment and the economy. A healthy 10% of Republicans put the deficit first, although 11% of Republicans are more worried about The Immigrants.

As Greg Sargent notes:

There's an interesting thing to be noted about polling on the deficit, by the way. When people are asked about the deficit in isolation, they signal real concern. But when they are asked about the deficit in the context of other priorities, attitudes shift.

Huh! It's almost as if people worry more about what tangibly affects their lives than they do about what keeps Larry Kudlow up at night.

Fall in support for Afghan war worrisome to National Security Advisor

Published: Friday 13th of August 2010 | AFP

President Barack Obama's national security advisor has voiced concern about Americans growing weary of the war in Afghanistan, despite what he called apparent "elements of success."

Asked in an interview whether US engagement in Afghanistan risked the same loss of support that undermined the war in Vietnam, James Jones replied that such a prospect was "very worrisome."

"The biggest fear would be that we might get to a point where we decide that we can't turn this violence around," the retired US Marine Corps general told CNN on Thursday, adding that he doubted that would happen.

A USA Today/Gallup opinion poll released earlier this month indicated that 60 percent of Americans thought the situation for the United States in Afghanistan was "very or moderately bad."

Public support for Obama's management of the conflict meanwhile fell to 36 percent, from 48 percent in February.

On the progress of the war in Afghanistan, Jones said: "The elements of success are all present, and they are visible. We know what they are. We are working very hard with both sides, on both sides of the (Afghan-Pakistan) border."

"Specifically in Pakistan, we need to see more activity on the part of the Pakistani army to go after the insurgents in the safe havens that allow the transit between Afghanistan and Pakistan to go on," he added.

"This is fundamentally important."

Jones acknowledged that parts of the Pakistan military "have played both sides in years past, because of their uncertainty with regard to our long-term stay and long-term commitment."

"Hopefully," he said, those elements will become "increasingly part of the solution."