Let's face it: this election sucks.
But that is no excuse to sit back and watch hell freeze over. This makes it even more important than ever before to exercise your civic duty and vote. Unsure on what to do? Well, join the club because the stances Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump hold on the substantive issues were lost in the whirlwind of personal differences. Politics doesn't need to be made more difficult than it is already. So, here's a quick breakdown of the positions Hillary and Donald hold on each of the main issues at stake this election season so you know what to do when November 8 comes around.
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1. Taxes
Let's talk money.
Hillary: wants to combat income equality by taxing the wealthy.
Donald: wants to cut taxes at all income levels, benefitting highest-income households the most.
2. Jobs
Hillary: proposes a plan to create 10 million jobs by investing in advanced manufacturing, technology, renewable energy, and small businesses.
Donald: proposes to create 25 million jobs by reducing the U.S. corporate tax rate, removing regulations, cutting the trade deficit, and investing in infrastructure.
3. Law and Order
Hillary: addresses combatting racial bias in police departments, supporting laws to prohibit racial profiling, asserts "stop and frisk" by the police as ineffective, and emphasizes rehabilitation over long prison sentences to combat "mass incarceration."
Donald: addresses creating a law enforcement that is tougher on offenders, supports "stop and frisk" as well as racial profiling to prevent terrorism and wants to do away with the "political correctness" that has caused violence and lawlessness to be "out of control."
4. Gun Laws
Hillary: wants to uphold Americans' right to the Second Amendment while creating tighter background checks and a ban on assault weapons in response to mass shootings.
Donald: wants to uphold Americans' right to the Second Amendment, as well, and blames current gun law for not allowing armed people to intervene during mass shootings.
Note: Hillary takes a preventative method of gun control while Donald takes a reactionary approach. Which do you prefer?
5. Supreme Court
The next president will appoint the 9th justice in the U.S. Supreme Court, a seat that has been vacant since the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia in February of 2016. The current make-up is evenly divided between four conservatives and four liberals. Thus, the POTUS's decision will have immense power in tipping the scale.
Hillary: wants an appointee that support the rights of women* and those of the LGBTQ community.
Donald: wants an appointee that will support pro-life* and fall on the conservative side of issues.
*Note: on the issue of abortion, Hillary is pro-choice, opposes state legislation to increase regulation of abortion providers and has criticized conservative efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Donald is pro-life, has commented that he supports an abortion ban with exceptions for "rape, incest and life of the mother" and calls for the defunding of Planned Parenthood.
6. Foreign Policy
Hillary: calls for a more hawkish approach to combatting ISIL by imposing a no-fly zone and arming Syrian rebels without committing to putting American boots on the ground. She continues to support a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, the U.S. role in NATO and countering Russian power.
Donald: calls for closer relations with Russia, has mentioned several times the U.S. should commit to sending tens of thousands of U.S. ground troops to combat ISIL and wants NATO to do more to combat terrorism in the Middle East by maintaining other allies need to spend more for their own protection.
7. Refugees
Hillary: supports the nation's history of welcoming those fleeing violence and calls for an increase from 10,000 annually to 65,000 of Syrian refugees to be resettled into the U.S. after being "carefully vetted."
Donald: supports "extreme vetting" of Syrian refugees and call for the suspension of resettling refugees.
8. Immigration
Hillary: wants to continue President Obama's normalization of the immigration status of long-term undocumented residents of the U.S. by ensuring immigration reform that allows such residents to obtain permanent legal residency and eventually citizenship.
Donald: wants to build a 2,000-plus-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as well as reduce the allowance of legal immigration.
9. Trade
Hillary: now opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement and supports creating a basic safety net for American workers so that they may "compete and win in the global economy."
Donald: is also opposed to the TPP and supports trade deals that protect U.S. industry.
10. Climate Change
Hillary: views climate change as a serious threat to American security and supports tight regulation of the energy industry.
Donald: views climate change as damaging but wants to cut funding to the Environmental Protection Agency.
