Iowans highlight pressing issues in election year ahead of caucuses

DES MOINES, the United States - Voters in the US state of Iowa have highlighted a series of thorny issues facing the country in the election year, with the most prominent ones being healthcare and climate change.

In interviews with Xinhua, Iowa voters complained about an ongoing situation where so many issues that should have been dealt with locally are being decided at the federal level.

Their comments came just days ahead of the Iowa caucuses scheduled for Monday, during which voters of both the Republican and the Democratic parties will cast their first votes in their respective primaries.

While latest surveys showed that Trump is certain to seek re-election on behalf of the Republican Party, on the Democratic side, history over the past four decades suggests that the result of the Iowa caucuses is indicative of which the party's presidential nominee will eventually be.

WASHINGTON GETTING TOO BIG

"Washington D.C. has been getting too big and there's too much being determined at the federal level on issues that should be more local," said Mark Hanson, a member of Dallas County Board of Supervisors.

Born into a family where his father was a school superintendent and his mother a librarian, Hanson considered himself "maybe (an) upper middle class" person. He said people in Dallas County and Iowa as a whole "want their services delivered close to where they live."

Hanson said even though the responsibility indeed falls on the federal government when it comes to issues like national defense, or setting up a federal legal court system to provide an alternative avenue for resolving disputes that occur at the state level, it is still important for the president of the United States to reach out to local leaders.

Echoing Hanson, Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Groenendyk said that with regard to the upcoming election, the thing that concerns him the most is candidates' ideas on the size of the government.

"Who's going to promote bigger government versus who's trying not to -- that consumes a lot of issues because that's about everything," the 52-year-old said. "It's probably good to slow down the overreaching size of the government."

According to Groenendyk, issues related to healthcare, environment, trade and foreign affairs all require the federal government to make decisions based on consultation with state and local officials, and give local governments certain decision-making authorities instead of adopting a take-it-all-over approach.

Father of 11, Groenendyk raises cows and grows soybean and corn on a family farm in Mahaska County, some 100 km southeast of downtown Des Moines, capital of Iowa.