Federal spending priorities was one of the first questions of the debate, and it's a matter often framed in terms of deficit spending and creeping socialism by conservatives.

The American public’s view is a bit more complex: In a March 2019 Pew Research Center poll, 53 percent of Americans indicated that federal spending on health care should increase. Americans interviewed by Pew researchers reported the strongest support for boosting funding for education, veteran’s benefits, rebuilding highways and bridges, Medicare, environmental protection and scientific research.

Support for more spending in each of these areas topped the 50 percent mark.

However, just 31 percent of those polled supported increased spending on assistance to the unemployed and 35 percent backed providing more aid to the world’s needy.