ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Election Day is officially three weeks away, and Bankrate conducted a survey asking Americans about what they believe are the most important economic issues.

News10NBC’s Deanna Dewberry interviewed a Bankrate economic analyst about the survey’s findings.

The survey indicated that overall, Americans believe inflation is the most important economic issue — not surprising.

Also not surprisingly, the survey found that folks’ view of the economy is largely dictated by the political party with which they identified.

But during my conversation with Mark Hamrick, Bankrate’s senior economist, he lamented the fact that few candidates are talking about the issues that keep economists up at night.

Deanna Dewberry: “The September CPI [Consumer Price Index] came out at 2.4 percent. The inflation report was 2.4 percent. The Fed’s [ Federal Reserve] target is 2 percent.  That would mean we’ve come a long way since the days of 9 percent inflation. Why do you believe there is this disconnect between the facts versus our perception of the economy?”

Mark Hamrick: “We live in a world that is very polarized, and politically speaking, we can’t even agree on what the facts are. And if we don’t agree on what the facts are, I don’t see how we can have constructive conversations on what the solutions are.  And that’s of great concern to me at Bankrate. As I sit here and think, we have a looming funding shortfall for Social Security, and within a decade benefits are going to have to be cut. … And both candidates are estimated to be calling for proposals that would add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit. Donald Trump’s costs estimated at somewhere between 7 and 10 trillion, and Kamala Harris’s proposals estimated to be north of 3 trillion dollars. We’re sort of in this situation where the American public is being told we can give you all these things. And we’re not going to tell you how we’re going to pay for them or if we’re going to pay for them.”

Hamick is one of many economists who is frustrated by both candidates promising they can fix inflation, when in reality the president has very little control over that. Instead, it’s largely guided by the Federal Reserve.

The analyst says it’s up to us, as the electorate, to always demand fiscal responsibility and ask candidates of both parties the critical question: How are you going to pay for it? It’s question that must be asked of candidates from the top of the ballot to the bottom.

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