Byron York‘s latest Washington Examiner article notes that a deal on the federal debt limit — good, bad, and/or ugly — doesn’t address the key issue motivating voters.

Making a deal after a long struggle left Republican leaders in a strange mood: relieved, happy to have prevailed, but eager to move on as quickly as possible. “Boehner created the framework of dollar-for-dollar cuts and increases in the debt ceiling,” said one GOP strategist involved in the fight. “That has been a huge change in the debate. At a tactical level, everything may not have been achieved, but at a strategic level this is a huge change in direction.”

Republicans know they’re on the right side of the spending issue. But they’re also acutely aware that federal spending, while critically important, is not the public’s No. 1 concern.

“People still want to focus on jobs and the economy,” says the GOP strategist. “So the challenge for Republicans is to make sure that connection is made. How do you make sure that you’re constantly putting this debate in the context of the larger issue?”

That’s the hard truth Republican leaders remember each time the spending fight threatens to overwhelm everything else in Washington. The deal they hammered out in talks with President Obama and the Democratic leadership — $2.5 trillion in total cuts and $2.4 trillion in debt limit extension — is important, but not the most important issue to most Americans. “The number that’s really going to matter is the one that comes out at the end of this week,” says the Republican strategist, referring to the July unemployment figures that will be released on Friday.

As the debt fight was at its height, Washington Post pollsters asked people for a one-word description of the battle. Three-quarters of those surveyed, the paper reported, answered with negative words; the top answers were “ridiculous,” “disgusting” and “stupid.”