The primary calendar formally opened this week, with candidates in the earliest contests leaning heavily into economic affordability and energy policy on the campaign trail.
Polling of likely primary voters shows the cost of living has displaced immigration and foreign policy as the top-ranked concern for the first time in several cycles.
“Every candidate who wants to win has to have a credible answer on prices,” one strategist working on an early-state campaign said.
Energy policy has emerged as a proxy fight within the broader affordability debate, with candidates sparring over the pace of permitting reform.
