This from AFL-CIO Now:

Some 56 percent of those surveyed in a poll released today say Congress and the president should work on jobs this year and 48 percent say those jobs should be in manufacturing. When asked whether Congress and the president should focus on the federal budget deficit or jobs, 67 percent say jobs, according to the poll conducted by the Mellman Group and Ayres, McHenry & Associates for the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

A stunning—and distressing—60 percent also say they think the next generation will be economically worse off. Only 10 percent said the next generation would be better off.

Clearly, Republicans forced a change of discussion in Washington away from jobs to deficits in order to see the economy go down the toilet in order for them to use the issue as campaign fodder next year.