Economy is Americans' No. 1 issue in presidential campaign

Obama answered questions about the economy for the first time since a report released Friday showed that job growth had slowed sharply, another indication that the economy was no longer in recovery.

"I am concerned about the fact that the recovery that we're on is not producing jobs as quickly as I want it to happen," Obama said at an appearance with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "We don't yet know whether this is a one-month episode or a longer trend."

Obama has little choice but to confront America's concerns about the economy. A vast 89 percent of Americans say the economy is in bad shape. Some 57 percent said the economy had not yet even begun to recover from the recession. Among the minority that said a recovery had begun, 81 percent said it was a weak one.