June 20, 2010
The Post is always anxious to tell readers about the need to reduce the deficit, it’s endlessly repeated editorial line. Of course this is the opposite of what the polling data show.
For example, a poll conducted by Pew on June 3-6 asked respondents which economic issue concerned them most. Forty one percent said jobs, only 23 percent said the deficit. A NBC/Wall Street Journal poll from early May found that by 35 percent to 20 percent people thought economic growth and job creation should be the first economic priority. Only 20 percent ranked the deficit first.
A Fox News poll, also done in early May, found that by a margin of 47 percent to 15 percent people thought the economy and jobs was a more important priority than the deficit and government spending. An early April NYT/CBS poll found that 23 percent of respondents listed the economy as the top priority, while 22 percent listed jobs. Only 11 percent listed the deficit.
So, the polls don’t seem to support the Post’s claim that the public is more worried about the deficit than jobs.
Thanks to Ben Somberg for calling this one to my attention and supplying the polling data.
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