Explainer | Trump vs Biden: where they stand on key US election issues
- Donald Trump pushes tax reductions and regulatory cuts as economic imperatives, frames himself as a conservative champion in culture wars
- Joe Biden frames the federal government as the force to combat the coronavirus, rebuild the economy and address centuries of racism
Amid the tumult of the 2020 presidential campaign, one dynamic has remained constant: the November 3 election offers US voters a choice between substantially different policy paths.
Here’s a look at where the rivals stand on key issues:
Economy, taxes
Low unemployment and a soaring stock market were Trump’s calling cards before the pandemic. While the stock market has clawed its way back after cratering in the early weeks of the crisis, unemployment stands at 7.9 per cent, and the nearly 10 million jobs that remain lost since the pandemic began exceed the number that the nation shed during the entire 2008-2009 Great Recession.
Trump has predicted that the US economy will rebound in the third and fourth quarters of this year and is set to take off like a “rocket ship” in 2021. He promises that a coronavirus vaccine or effective therapeutics will soon be available, allowing life to get back to normal. His push for a payroll tax cut over the summer was thwarted by stiff bipartisan opposition. But winning a second term – and a mandate from voters – could help him resurrect the idea.
First and foremost, Biden argues that the economy cannot fully recover until Covid-19 is contained. For the long-term recovery, he pitches sweeping federal action to avoid an extended recession and to address long-standing wealth inequality that disproportionately affects non-white Americans.