As this election year began, political pundits insisted the No. 1 issue would be the economy. They expected the candidates to offer voters detailed plans for encouraging job growth.
Now, with the election just three weeks away, many Americans are still scratching their heads, wondering what exactly President Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney would do to improve the economy.
During the first presidential debate, the moderator did little to nail down details on the topics that matter most to average people, such as home prices, gasoline, wages, exports and jobs. At tonight's televised town hall meeting at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., at least a few voters will have a chance to ask questions to clarify differences between the candidates on "real" economy issues.
Here are five topics that many Americans would like to hear more about:
Helping the housing sector
The housing sector has been in a depression since 2007. In recent months, some indicators have been turning up, but construction spending is still mostly moving sideways, and home prices generally remain far below 2006 levels.
Romney has not said much about foreclosures and the home-price crash, except in a Las Vegas Review-Journal interview when he said: "Let it run its course and hit the bottom."
Obama disagreed, saying in his State of the Union address in January that "responsible homeowners shouldn't have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief." He has backed modest programs to slow foreclosures, such as the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).
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