Super worried about the economy

As Super Bowl Sunday segues into Super Tuesday, Americans' thoughts move from losing yardage on the field to losing ground financially.

Today's poll by the Washington Post-ABC News reveals that voters' thoughts are clearly on the economy, stupid, as well as the job market: A whopping 39% cite this as the No. 1 issue in the presidential campaign. That's up 10 percentage points in the past three weeks. (A mere five months ago, only 11% of those surveyed cited the economy as job no. 1; the majority --35% -- were still focused on the war in Iraq.)

The percentage of Americans who think we're in a recession has shot up markedly since mid-January, from 39 to 59%. A paltry 19% of those polled this month rate the economy as "excellent" or "good." The last time the economy's poll numbers were so low was in 1993. When the Post queried voters before the last midterm elections in 2006, 55% gave the national economy the thumbs-up.

Surges aside, 52% of Democrats polled by the Post say they'd trust Hillary Clinton most to handle the country's economic issues, while 38% went for Obama. McCain got the nod among Republicans with 43% over Mitt Romney's 29%.