CHARLOTTE, NC — A healthy economy is the most important topic for the majority of Americans when it comes to voting for the next president. For a smaller population, it’s healthcare. A Bloomberg swing state poll this summer found 1/3 of people in North Carolina put the economy as the most important issue, only 5% said healthcare. “Having a health care, good health care plan is important and especially for senior citizens. as health care makes up one of the major chunks of most senior citizens budget,” said Ray Wilson. “The main things the health care that folks are looking for have to do with number one access and number two cost,” said Winthrop political science professor Scott Huffmon. Inflation has been coming down for the past two years but as Huffmon explained, it doesn’t feel like it because prices are not dropping for the essential costs of living. “Food, education and health care. The things that people feel in their pockets immediately, and health care and hospital costs have been rising even faster than regular inflation,” Huffmon said. There’s no doubt healthcare is extremely important. However, Huffmon said that when it comes to picking a candidate based on their healthcare needs, not many voters do their research before heading to the polls. “Unlike political scientists, regular folks have lives. They don’t have time to dig into these things. and it’s really not fair to ask them to do that in order to figure out exactly how one policy has affected their spending,” Huffmon said.