This is rather new for our traditional media:
A quick search of Politico.com shows that since the start of February, the word "deficit" has appeared 52 times, and "unemployment" just 17. (Rough synonyms present an even starker picture: "Debt" has appeared 42 times, "joblessness" just twice.)
A search of the WashingtonPost.com tells a similar story. In the last 60 days, the frequency of hits for "deficit" is nearly double that for "unemployment": 1,155 to 650. And "debt" beats out "joblessness" by a whopping 1,015 to 35.
And yet, even as weekly jobless claims dropped today to a three-year low, ordinary people seem to feel differently. Thirty-seven percent of respondents to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll named jobs as the top issue the federal government should address, while only 22 percent name the deficit and government spending. Those numbers jibe with other recent poll results. [emphasis mine]
Here's what that new NBC/WSJ poll looks like:
Source: WSJ/NBC News polls
Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Are DC Democrats not talking about job creation 24 hours a day because they're spending all their time reading Politico and WaPo? They really need to get out of the Village and start talking to people.