Thank you to everyone who shared the first part of my three-part segment regarding the 2016 presidential candidates. To recap, I've highlighted the "Old-Fashioned" American candidates: Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump, discussing their perspectives on voters' top issues as pointed out by FiveThirtyEight Politics.
The second part of “The College Student’s Guide to the 2016 Election” features Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Carly Fiorina, and Marco Rubio.
I like to call this segment, “The Innovators.”
This segment is the most interesting to me as it is split in half in terms of partisanship. Sanders, who identifies as a democratic socialist, aims to bring America into a new, progressive age more quickly and drastically than his opponents. Clinton has begun to use innovative techniques and social media, like Snapchat, to attract young voters (especially young ones) and specific demographics.
Fiorina's focus is on technology and -- as the former CEO knows from experience -- it is the fastest and most rapidly growing industry. She believes it's an industry that must be tapped into if America wants to regain its power domestically and internationally. Finally, Rubio's youthful and charismatic personality, in addition to his backstory, have made him a hit among voters of all ages and backgrounds.
Bernie Sanders (D)
Highest Position Held: US Senator (Vermont)
Fast Facts: Solve climate change, increase minimum wage, tuition-free public universities, legalize marijuana, pro-choice, supports same-sex marriage, single-payer health care system, war as last resort
The Economy: Sanders wants to create a progressive tax for the top 0.3% of Americans who inherit more than $3.5 million. He hopes to increase the minimum wage to $15/hr and create jobs by enacting infrastructure repair. Both an economic and social issue, Sanders aims to close the pay gap between women and men and enact the “Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act” to break up big banks and prohibit any too-big-to-fail institutions from accessing the Federal Reserve’s discount facilities.
Environment and Science: Sanders hopes to "reclaim democracy from the billionaire fossil fuel lobby" while Investing in clean and sustainable energy to lead the international community in solving climate change.
Education: A large-scale goal, Sanders wants to make tuition free at public colleges and universities and cut loan interest rates university-wide. He also aims for a universal child care and pre-kindergarten program.
Social Issues: Sanders' goals include "demilitarizing" police forces, investing in community policing, and re-enfranchising African-Americans. The most liberal of any candidate, Sanders wants to legalize marijuana, protect reproductive rights, and fight for LGBT rights.
Healthcare: Perhaps Sanders' biggest goal is to guarantee healthcare for everyone by enacting a single-payer health care system. He aims to make sure that companies are required to provide at least 12 weeks of paid family leave and allow individuals, pharmacists, and wholesalers to import prescription drugs from licensed Canadian pharmacies.
National Security, Foreign Policy, and Defeating ISIS: Sanders believes in "strength through diplomacy" and looking to war as a last resort. He supports the Iran Nuclear Deal and wants to close Guantanamo Bay.
Immigration: Sanders supports humanitarian parole to ensure the return of unjustly deported immigrants and unify broken families. Along with securing the border, Sanders wants to protect local communities and he supports sanctuary cities.
Hillary Clinton (D)
Highest Position Held: US Secretary of State
Fast Facts: Raise minimum wage, New College Compact, pro-choice, stricter gun control, path to equal citizenship
The Economy: Clinton aims for "strong growth, fair growth, and long-term growth." To do this, she wants to expand employment opportunities by investing in infrastructure, clean energy, and scientific and medical research. She also aims to provide tax relief for small businesses and middle-class workers, raise the minimum wage, and lower health care costs.
Environment and Science: Clinton has, "Two national goals - Have more than 1/2 billion solar panels installed across the country by the end of the first term, and generate enough renewable energy to power every home in America within 10 years of taking office."
Education: Clinton hopes to enact the New College Compact, which will invest $350 billion into higher education so that students do not have to borrow to pay tuition at a public school in their state. She also supports an investment in early childhood education for all, expanding preschool access, and aims to find the right balance between testing and engaging curriculum for K-12 students.
Social Issues: Clinton wants to strengthen trust between the community and the police, end racial profiling, and fight against hate crime directed towards the LGBT community. She also hopes to close the pay gap between women and men and fight for paid family leave. Clinton is pro-choice and believes that women's health should be available for all.
Healthcare: Clinton aims to lower out of pocket costs (co-pays and deductibles), reduce the cost of prescription drugs, and give women access to reproductive healthcare.
Clinton's Plan for National Security, Foreign Policy, and Defeating ISIS:
1. Maintain the best-equipped military
2. Never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon
3. Empower our partners to defeat terrorism through partnership to build the Iraqi military, commitment to Afghanistan’s democracy and security, and supporting efforts to restore stability to Libya and Yemen
4. Hold China accountable and stand up to Russia and Putin
5. Strengthen alliances in the Middle East
6. Comprehensible federal background check legislation
7. Keep military-style weapons off the streets
Immigration: Clinton supports a path to full and equal citizenship. She defends DACA and DAPA (DREAMers). She supports humane, targeted immigration enforcement and promotes naturalization.
Carly Fiorina (R)
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Highest Position Held: CEO of Hewlett-Packard
Fast Facts: Zero-based budget, supports building Keystone XL Pipeline, against Common Core, defund Planned Parenthood, pro-life, same-sex marriage as state-level decision, repeal Obamacare
The Economy: Fiorina plans to combine a zero-based budget with tax reform, which is part of her plan to simplify the tax code and reduce regulation.
Environment and Science: Fiorina does not want a gas tax increase. She believes that the regulation of manufacturing, in regards to the environment, will not solve climate change. She also supports the building of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Education: Fiorina does not support Common Core and believes that giving students, educators, and parents options is the best choice. She supports No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.
Social Issues: Fiorina wants to defund Planned Parenthood, ban abortion after 20 weeks, and even supports the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She believes that issues such as the legalization of marijuana and same-sex marriage should be state-level decisions and that paid maternity leave should be voluntary and not mandated. One of her biggest goals is to close the wage gap between men and women.
Healthcare: Fiorina wants to replace Obamacare with a free market healthcare system.
Fiorina's Plans for National Security, Foreign Policy, and Defeating ISIS:
1. Arm the Kurds, the Emiratis, and other Arab allies
2. Rebuild 6th fleet instead of talking to Putin
3. Does not support the Iran Nuclear Deal and wants to employ more sanctions
4. Practice more aggressive exercises in the Baltic area, specifically adding more United States troops in Germany
5. Place more soldiers on the ground in Syria
6. Provide material to Jordan and intel to Egypt in order to fight ISIL
Immigration: Fiorina supports a pathway to legalization, but not citizenship. However, she supports the DREAM Act and does not believe that young students should be punished for their legal status.
Marco Rubio (R)
Highest Position Held: US Senator (Florida)
Fast Facts: Reform tax code, fight EPA regulations, against Common Core, pro-life, against same-sex marriage, repeal Obamacare, tough on foreign policy, encourages immigration and immigration reform
The Economy: Rubio wants to create a new $2,500 per child partially refundable tax credit and end the marriage tax penalty without penalizing homemakers. He encourages more paid leave for new parents, caretakers of ailing loved ones, seriously ill employees, and military families, without harmful mandates or costly new entitlements. Rubio plans to end the death tax, fight the establishment of a cap-and-trade program or carbon tax and cut taxes for small businesses to 25 percent. He wants to let businesses immediately expense new investments. Rubio's goals include establishing a National Regulatory Budget to hold unelected regulators accountable, approving the Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees (RAISE) Act, which removes union-imposed obstacles to pay increases for millions of workers, and allowing employers to provide workers with a choice between receiving monetary compensation or paid leave for working overtime.
Environment and Science: Rubio wants to undo the EPA’s Clean Water Rule, fight EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, and cut excessive application of the Endangered Species Act. He will push for other reforms to unleash American energy production, bring down energy costs for farmers, and expand responsible production of American-made energy including oil, coal, natural gas, and renewables. Rubio supports the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and wants to empower states and tribes to control onshore energy development within their borders.
Education: Rubio is against Common Core. He aims to make existing higher education information available online in an easily-accessible format to help students and families make well-informed decisions and establish income-based repayment (IBR) as the universal repayment method for federal student loans. Rubio promotes innovative learning programs by establishing a new accrediting entity to ensure the quality of these courses, review eligibility for financial aid, and make credits transferable into the traditional system. This will allow students to apply for innovative “Student Investment Plans” from approved investors.
Social Issues: Rubio supports banning abortion after 20 weeks and is against same-sex marriage.
Healthcare: Rubio wants to repeal Obamacare and expand access to affordable, quality health coverage by providing every American with an advanceable, refundable tax credit that can be used to purchase insurance. He aims to reduce health care costs, promote innovation, and ensure access for the most vulnerable by expanding access to consumer-centered health plans, reforming insurance regulations, and putting protections in place to ensure that those with pre-existing health conditions can get access to affordable coverage. Rubio promotes innovation in the Medicaid program by giving states a per-capita block grant.
Rubio's Plan for National Security, Foreign Policy, and Defeating ISIS:
1. Restore American strength to ensure that the United States remains a Pacific power
2. Provide unconditional support to Cuba’s pro-democracy movement, promote greater access to uncensored information for the Cuban people, and deprive the Castro regime of funding for its repressive security state
3. Reverse President Obama’s attempts to normalize relations and condition any further lessening of sanctions until Cuba engages in meaningful political and human rights reform, returns United States fugitives and agrees to honor American property claims and outstanding judgments
4. Modernize forces to remain on the cutting edge of the land, sea, air, cyberspace, and outer space domains
5. Empower the intelligence community by permanently extending Section 215 of the Patriot Act
6. Oppose any violations of international waters, airspace, cyberspace, or outer space
7. Demand that China allow true freedom for its 1.3 billion people
8. Expand airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, deploying forward air controllers to call in air support
9. Build a multinational coalition of countries willing to send troops into Iraq and Syria with embedded United States forces and U.S. logistical and intelligence support to aid local fighters on the ground in destroying ISIS safe havens
10. Develop a plan to oust Bashar al-Assad from power, including ramping up training of Syrian rebels to fight both Assad and ISIS and to establish safe zones within Syria
Immigration: Rubio supports a merit-based legal immigration system, with additional investment in electronic monitoring and personnel. He wants to give employers a reliable way to check the legal status of the people who they hire and invest in an entry and exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays.
Check back next week for the third and final segment, which will highlight "The Classics" of the 2016 Election!