As politicians continue to formally announce their bid in the 2016 presidential race, tensions continue to rise in poverty-stricken areas in the United States.

Presidential candidates may focus on discussing the controversial topic of the complicated relationship between poor communities and the police, Yahoo! News reports.

After protests in Baltimore turned violent following the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray by police officers, President Barack Obama challenged people to address the issue at hand.

"I'm under no illusion that out of this Congress we're going to get massive investments in urban communities," Obama said. "But if we really want to solve the problem, if our society really wanted to solve the problem, we could."

Some Republicans believe spending more money in poor areas would not help the problems in communities because former and current government programs have proved to be inefficient.

"At what point do you have to conclude that the top-down government poverty programs have failed?" said Jeb Bush, a conservative that is expected to run for president. "I think we need to be engaged in this debate as conservatives and say that there's a bottom-up approach."

Focusing on poverty will be a tough discussion to deal, with but it is an issue that needs to be addressed. In the last term, Mitt Romney may have lost a lot of voters because of his views on the poor. Next term, candidates will have to discuss poverty coupled with police brutality in specific areas.

"Hopefully these protests are something they'll wrap themselves around, and we can make sure these issues get addressed," said Thavy Bullis, a Baltimore college student.

Likely presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made suggestions to address the issue, including putting body cameras on officers.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said the issue in communities is much about race and policing as it is about poverty.