Republican presidential candidates vying to be the leading alternative to front-runner Donald Trump opened the first Republican primary debate Wednesday night with broadsides criticizing U.S. President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy and what they consider to be excessive government spending.
“Our country is in decline,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who stands in a distant second place behind Trump but ahead of the rest of the field. “We must reverse Bidenomics so that middle-class families have a chance to succeed again.”
While the economy has shown surprising resilience, defying recession predictions with a robust labour market, polls show many voters — including a
