Most say health care is "extremely important" to vote

All this attention on health care, post-Paul Ryan, might be raising its salience -- which is, of course, a risk the Romney team embraced when it embraced Ryan.

Take a look at how important issues are to voters in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida, according to a new Quinnipiac/CBS/New York Times poll.

Economy: An average of 57.7% say it's "extremely important" to their vote.

Health care: An average of 52.7% say it's "extremely important" to their vote.

Medicare: An average of 45.7% say it's "extremely important" to their vote.

Now... compare that with the next two issues.

Budget deficit: An average of 43.7% say it's "extremely important" to their vote.

Taxes: An average of just 35.7% say it's "extremely important" to their vote. You know what that means? Voters are relatively "meh" about what both parties tend to portray as the ultimate force between either a Pax Romana or economic calamity.

Foreign policy: An average of just 26.7% say it's "extremely" important to vote.

Housing market: An average of just 18.3% (and only 22% in the battered Florida) say it's "extremely" important. Compared to what we thought, it's possible to say the housing market has "busted" as a campaign issue alone.

Now these numbers don't prioritize things.

For example, even though health care sits very closely to the economy, it's quite possible (even probable) that the economy would be listed first by an overwhelming margin.

But nevertheless, it's a good sign of what's on voters' minds. You've got two issues at the fore (the economy and health care) that are usually split. Voters tend to favor Republicans on the economy and Democrats on health care, but the last preference is usually starker. That's why you have a margin of error election.