Super Tuesday is an important milestone in the primary election process in the US as voters in many states cast their ballots on the same day. When the Super Tuesday voting results were announced, experts said that there will be likely a rematch between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
As the question regarding who will represent the two parties in the election has nearly been resolved, public opinion is focusing on the candidates’ views on the challenges facing the world’s largest economy.
Recent public opinion polls indicate that the issues of most interest to voters today are the economy, immigration, social security, and foreign policy. Analysts said the candidates’ views on such issues are among the factors that determine who will be the next US president.
The top priority for many Americans is the economy. According to a Pew Research Center survey, nearly 75% of respondents consider the strengthening of the economy as the top priority, higher than any other goal.
Overall, the US economy is still growing positively, with GDP growth in 2023 beating expectations at 2.5%, while the job market was stable and the unemployment rate was maintained at historic lows.
The risks of recession have been pushed back while the fight against inflation has achieved positive results. Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi predicted that by the end of 2024, inflation will return to the target level set by the US Federal Reserve.
However, according to a recent poll by the Wall Street Journal, many voters are still concerned about high living costs, uneven growth, and the growing income gap. Observers say that the candidates must find solutions to these difficult economic problems if they want to win the support of voters.
Besides the economy, illegal immigration is also one of the focuses attracting the attention of more and more voters. Results of a Gallup poll show that about 28% of respondents said immigration is the most important issue facing the US at present, a significant increase from 9% in August 2023.
Analysts say that it is entirely understandable that American voters pay a lot of attention to immigration issues. The flow of immigrants at the border between the US and Mexico rose to a record high late last year. In fiscal year 2023, more than 2.4 million people entered the US illegally from Mexico. As illegal immigration has become increasingly difficult to control, both leading candidates, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, visited America’s southern border just a few days before Super Tuesday. This is a sign that the two candidates will continue to view immigration as a priority in their election campaigns.
A series of other issues also attract the attention of American voters, including healthcare costs, crime, the fight against terrorism, education, and gun control. According to the Pew Research Center, American people’s priorities are also divided by partisan factors. Republican voters care more about immigration and anti-terrorism; while Democratic voters focus on healthcare, education, and the environment.
Notably, unlike previous elections, more and more voters now believe that foreign policy should be considered one of America’s priorities, in the context that America is still struggling on many global flash points, from conflict in the Middle East to the war in Ukraine. Poll results by AP and the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) show that about 40% of respondents said that foreign policy should be one of the five priorities of the White House in 2024.
As the US is facing many challenges, both domestic and foreign, American voters expect the next president to continue leading the country forward. Therefore, difficult problems regarding the economy, immigration, social security, and foreign affairs will be the obstacles that the candidates must overcome.
