The first Republican presidential primary debate left some Orange County voters with little answers on how the candidates on stage may lead the country. In this next, Republican voters want specifics on inflation, immigration, fentanyl, Latino voter outreach and more.
Inflation is top of mind for young and older voters alike. In Southern California, gas prices pushed past $6 a gallon last week, well above the national average of $3.88.
And mortgage rates hit 7.09% last month, the highest level in 21 years.
“We have runaway inflation. They have got to tackle this inflation problem,” said Annette Eliot, president of the Huntington Harbour Republican Women Federated. “They better talk about inflation because families are hurting. It’s hurting older, retired people who are on a fixed income.”
The rising cost of living is worrying younger Californians, too. Irvine Valley College student Diego Victoria said he wants to hear “more substantive things related to the economy” in the second debate.
“If they want to attract this portion of Americans and bring them to the Republican Party,” Victoria, 19, said of younger voters, “they need to talk about economic issues like the cost of living and cost of education. Living in California is very expensive.”
While candidates in the first debate touched on a range of topics including energy production, inflation, immigration and foreign policy, none of them went into specifics, said Yorba Linda resident Art Cordts.
In the second debate, he said he wants to see “less bickering back and forth” and “more getting into the issues,” such as lowering the federal debt.
“Republicans typically don’t raise taxes, but how are (they) going to reduce the debt? And you can’t be talking on one hand,” Cordts, 64, said. “Let’s say Nikki Haley is giving X amount to Ukraine and then not coming up with a plan to cut spending. I’d like to see how federal spending is going to be cut from…
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