NYT/CBS poll: Nobody cares about the deficit

Only 4 percent of those surveyed said the deficit was the one issue they would like the presidential candidates to talk about. No typo - 4 percent. That compares with 11 percent last June. The economy and jobs are tied at the top, with 22 percent each. I suppose you could argue that the deficit is part of the economy, but clearly it's not perceived as a large part. So what about the haranguing last year by Congressional Republicans? What about their insistence that "the American people" wanted huge cuts in federal spending? Truth is the American people don't much care about a balanced budget - in the world of trillion-dollar spending, it's an impossible (and undesirable) goal anyway. (NYT)