Posted by aburke on 04/19/2011

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A new Washington Post/ABC News Poll  reinforces what Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) Executive Director Scott Paul told Huffington Post readers last week: Americans are more concerned about jobs than anything else.

Though the Obama administration has been wholly focused on the nation’s budget deficit, it’s clear that the public is focused on the true crisis facing our county-- the jobs deficit. As the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent put it:

It’s the economy, not the deficit: There’s a clear message in today’s Washington Post/ABC News poll: At a time when official Washington is preoccupied with the deficit and spending cuts, Obama’s reelection team should be worried about the economy above all else. The poll finds that 47 percent approve of Obama’s performance, down seven points since January -- a period during which the discussion over the deficit has been front and center, and Obama and Dems reached an agreement on spending cuts that sucked up all the Beltway oxygen.

Along the same vein, Scott Paul also shared his thoughts on why President Obama's approval ratings are so low on Politco’s Arena:

It’s the economy, stupid. The President and Congress continue to obsess about the wrong deficit. The effective unemployment rate in America is over 15 percent, when you consider the discouraged and underemployed. The economy is the top concern of voters, but you wouldn’t know that living inside the Beltway. While the debt is also an important issue, focusing on deficit reduction is a poor way to create jobs. Focusing on job creation, on the other hand, is a great way to reduce the deficit as our economy grows.

View the entire debate here.