Millions of Americans still are feeling the effects of the Great Recession while others’ problems relate to job losses and other setbacks extending from long before the recession kicked in.

But some presidential election pollsters remain focused on gauging the public’s attitude about presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s religious faith.

Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons. If he wins the GOP nomination, and no one has doubts about that, he will become the first Mormon presidential nominee of a major political party.

The attention to Romney’s religious beliefs is reminiscent of the public attention that was focused on the religious beliefs of John F. Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, during the 1960 presidential race.

That quickly became a non-issue after Kennedy’s election, and the same undoubtedly would hold true if Romney were to defeat President Barack Obama on Nov. 6.

However, some pollsters continue to focus on the religion issue, while giving less attention to more important, substantive issues of concern to the American people — issues that directly impact Americans’ daily lives and their economic well-being.

The latest poll dealing with Romney’s religious beliefs — conducted by the Pew Research Center — found that while most Americans don’t relate to Romney’s religion, Romney’s Mormonism would not matter when they decide whether or not to vote for him.

That is as it should be.

What the polls really should be targeting is public opinion about Romney’s stances and remedies — or lack of stances and remedies — on big and, perhaps, not-so-crucial issues facing this country.

The fact that he attends Mormon church services doesn’t matter in the big picture, like Kennedy’s Catholicism didn’t guide the course of this nation.

Romney never would have gone as far as he has in politics if his religion had been an issue.

That is not to belittle the two-thirds of the American public who say it is important that a president have strong religious beliefs. By all accounts, Romney is a devout Morman.

But a devoutly religious president could be woefully ineffective, just like an atheist could end up doing great things for this nation.

Whether a president is Protestant, Catholic, Jewish or a Mormon doesn’t matter, as long as he — or she — executes the office in the best interests of the nation and its people.

The voting public needs to know as much as possible about the presidential candidates’ positions on the issues. Where or when they go to church — if they go at all — has little or no relevance in confronting the tough decisions they will have to make in the course of carrying out their awesome responsibilities.

The pollsters who ignore that — especially in the final weeks leading up to voting — are doing the public a great disservice.

The pollsters should turn their backs on the unimportant and, in turn, commit themselves to polling on truly meaningful topics and issues.