Energy Booster

But Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, says there is an explanation for this phenomenon.

"The question is, why do we still have a majority of Americans who say the economy is getting worse, not better when we're getting better official news from the economy and stock market," Newport said. "The answer is that the official statistics focus on job creation and the stock market, and they don't necessarily reflect what's important to Americans."

In a poll taken from July 25-28, Gallup asked, in an open-ended question, what people believed to be the biggest challenge facing their families.

"Health care cost ranked first followed by energy costs," Newport said. "That was followed by 'not enough money to pay debts' and then unemployment was fourth. Then retirement savings and lack of money and college expenses."

In other words, most Americans -- the majority of whom are working -- are not as concerned about job creation as they are about where and how far their money is going. People have jobs, but their salaries aren't going as far, especially when they're paying nearly $3 a gallon for gas or have medication co-payments that have jumped from $10 to $40 in recent years, as some do.

As far as energy costs are concerned, McClellan suggests help is on the way -- albeit no time soon.

"This is a comprehensive energy strategy, something that the president had advocated from the very beginning when he came into office, and it was four years in coming but we finally got it done," McClellan said. "It's been over a decade since we've actually had a comprehensive national energy strategy. What this would do is put us on a path to reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy. We didn't get into this overnight, we're not going to get out of this overnight."

Staff writer Mary Specht contributed to this article.

Comments can be sent to Terry Neal at commentsforneal@washingtonpost.com.