Consumer and producer price indexes are declining, fuel prices are down, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is reaching record highs.

The traditional economic trend lines appear to be heading in the right direction for an incumbent presidency. But politically, perceptions over the economy stirs different realities, and the issue is the No. 1 topic for Republican voters whose message about high inflation has resonated during the campaign season.

The issue, overall, is the only one in which a majority of voters in a recent Gallup poll said a candidates’ viewpoint is “extremely important.”

The candidates in Alabama’s 2nd congressional district also cite the economy as a top concern within a South Alabama region that has a higher-than-average poverty rate, and unemployment rate that is mostly above the state’s average.

Republican Caroleene Dobson is pushing out a message that inflation is the biggest challenge facing voters in Alabama and beyond. She repeatedly linked a variety of issue-oriented concerns to the post-pandemic economic environment under the Biden Administration of higher grocery prices and medical costs during a 2nd congressional district debate hosted by AL.com and sponsored by AARP on Thursday.

“You and I have to ask ourselves, ‘Are we better off than we were four years ago?’” Dobson said during the debate, channeling President Ronald Reagan’s famous line during the 1980 presidential debate.

“I’ve yet to find a person who answered that question, ‘Yes,’” she added.

Figures, however, said it’s not Biden who was the cause for soaring costs but that it was something he inherited from former President Donald Trump.

“This administration has done good work to make sure we don’t fall off a fiscal cliff into a depression,” Figures said.

Sticker shock

Dobson is blaming the current administration for the high costs of “basic living costs,” which she blames on “excessive government spending that fuels inflation” and which she said, “acts as a hidden tax on hardworking Alabamians.”

Inflation spiked in 2022 and has steadily declined on most prices since then. But there are outliers on vital products at the grocery stores like eggs, which are up considerably in recent months due to a recent bird flu outbreak.

The economy remains a Republican advantage ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Trump, according to a recent Reuter/Ipsos poll, has a lead with voters who prioritize the economy as the No. 1 issue with 46% of respondents saying the GOP nominee for President was more equipped to handle the issue, compared to 38% who were in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Families across the Second congressional District are continuing to feel sticker shock in the grocery aisles, and now it costs twice as much to fill a grocery cart half as full,” Dobson said. “Gas prices are down because the summer travel season is over, but unless we make our nation energy independent again, they will just soar to the stratosphere again and cause pain with every fill up.”

Figures said that in Washington, D.C., the federal government has the responsibility to manage the economic factors it can control. He said the pandemic, “through no fault of any President,” presented difficult challenges to the economy that led to temporary job losses, worker shortages, capital access difficulties and supply chain disruptions.

“Families have suffered the most,” Figures said. “We are still climbing out of it. Job growth is strong, the stock market is booming, and inflation has slowed. Washington must responsibly manage the economic factors within its control, such as the Federal Reserve rate and infrastructure investments, and support small businesses to ensure they have access to resources to keep us going in the right direction.”

Regulations, backgrounds

Dobson said that overregulation also led to soaring prices. Dobson said she would support a restoration of Trump’s Regulatory Bill of Rights if she’s elected. The executive order was signed in May 2020, and its aim was to “help empower people to be protected from undue, expensive, unclear regulatory overreach by the federal government.”

Dobson is also a supporter of removing the federal income tax on tip wages. She also wants to expand Alabama’s current exemption on overtime pay to the national level under a policy that received rare bipartisan support in the Alabama Legislature.

Figures said he will also fight for a fair regulatory environment that is transparent to both businesses and consumers. He is also a supporter of eliminating the federal income tax on tip wages, backs federal investments in small businesses, childcare, and improving technology.

“I will fight for a fair, efficient, common sense regulatory environment that does not stifle innovation or the ability of businesses to maximize their potential; one where regulation are informed by all relevant stakeholders and are narrowly tailored to limit harm by bad actors to Alabama consumers, workers, and companies.”

Figures, in his comments during debates and in media interviews, has repeatedly said Dobson – who he claims is a “billionaire,” but which records show a murkier reality – is out of touch with the voters in the rural and mostly Black congressional district.

“I think it starts with people who can relate to the issues and who grow up in and around people who are struggling,” Figures said. “My opponent can’t relate to that.”

Prescription, medical costs

Figures is also a supporter of the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2022 law that led to a reduction in prescription drug costs but included $891 billion in mew federal spending. The bill passed the U.S. House with all Democrats supporting it and Republicans opposing. The law’s provisions led to $1.5 billion in savings to Medicare recipients.

The law does several things: It sets up a drug price negotiation system for Medicare, and caps out-of-pocket costs at $2,000.

Dobson said that the Inflation Reduction Act included “good points and bad,” but she said the plan requires Alabama’s insurance boards for retired teachers and public employees to be “forced to consider raising premiums on fixed-income retirees they cover.”

“Making the blanket (statement) that it has reduced healthcare costs is a misnomer,” said Dobson. “I strongly oppose the provisions in the IRA that may force retired Alabamians covered by Medicare Advantage to pay more for their healthcare costs.”

Figures is a supporter of investments into health care as a key to creating jobs and improving the quality of life within the congressional district.

He has repeatedly pushed for the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act adopted by the federal government in 2010, while Dobson said it’s something she would recommend Republicans in the Statehouse to consider supporting.

Related: Alabama’s health care: Figures, Dobson tackle rural crisis

Figures said the Medicaid expansion will help the state reverse hospital closures, create more access to care and increase life expectancy in a congressional district where life expectancy is far below the national average of 76.4 years. He said absent Medicaid expansion backed by Alabama lawmakers he will support direct federal investments to keep rural hospitals operating.

“The Republicans at the state and federal level need to get serious if they truly care about life,” he said.

Workforce development

Figures and Dobson support growing workforce development programs, though Dobson praised the programs already established in Alabama.

Figures backs partnerships with colleges and universities, ensuring Alabamians have the “competitive skills needed for emerging job opportunities” within the district.

“Preparing workers for the jobs we need filled locally must be prioritized,” he said. “Incentivizing and funding workforce development public-private partnerships between local industry and our high schools, two-year colleges, and trade programs will help ensure we build a robust, well-trained workforce that will attract more industry and companies to the district.”

Dobson said she will support programs that make it easier for Alabamians to attend community colleges and trade schools and increases access to workforce training.

She credits the state for being a leader in this area.

“Alabama is a national leader in workforce development, and its programs in that area have won national awards time and time again,” Dobson said. “It is among the reasons why Alabama’s unemployment rate is the eighth lowest in the nation, and companies are moving here all the time.”