This year’s presidential election is between Republican incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Joe Biden has decades of experience in politics, and Donald Trump is running for his second term as President. See how the two candidates envision America.

Wages

Joe Biden wants to raise the $7.25 minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Donald Trump has not mentioned increasing the minimum wage.

Diversity and Inclusion

Joe Biden promises his first Supreme Court nominee to be a Black female judge. Biden’s running mate is a Black woman. 

Donald Trump has very few non-white staff members.

Police

Both candidates are in favor of police reform. Biden has denounced calls to “defund the police,” and while Donald Trump is under scrutiny for his militaristic response to George Floyd protests, Joe Biden was Vice President during the Ferguson protests that were met with similar responses under Obama.

Criminal Justice

Joe Biden wants to eliminate the death penalty and solitary confinement. However, Joe Biden has reached this opposition in the 2000s, decades after he established his political career.

Donald Trump is open to restarting federal executions with Supreme Court approval. 

Drug Policy

Joe Biden pushed for harsh drug sentences in his early career. Now, he hopes to decriminalize the use of cannabis and legalize medicinal marijuana. He would leave the legalization of recreational marijuana to the states. Biden says his administration will invest $75 billion in drug prevention. Biden claims that drug use should not warrant immediate incarceration, but rehabilitation instead.

Donald Trump’s administration has widened access to overdose drugs.

Prison Industrial Complex

Joe Biden wants to get rid of cash bail, private prisons and profiteering altogether.

Donald Trump is not opposed to private prisons, and his administration has sued California over its ban on private prisons.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Joe Biden would invest $70 billion into HBCUs, and his plan to make two years of public colleges and universities free to most students would apply to public HBCUs.

Donald Trump has signed a law that gives a permanent $255 million in funding for HBCUs. 

Healthcare

Joe Biden wishes to uphold the Affordable Care Act and will finance it by increasing taxes on the wealthy.

Donald Trump despises the Affordable Care Act, but he has not proposed a replacement.

Both candidates are in favor of lowering drug costs.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

Joe Biden would protect DACA, mapping out a path to citizenship for Dreamers and all other undocumented immigrants in the country.

Donald Trump has attempted to repeal DACA, but it has been overturned by the Supreme Court. This year, his administration has blocked new DACA program enrollment.

Border Wall

Joe Biden would not tear down any of the already built border wall, but he would end any further construction. That funding would go towards other border security enforcements such as better screening.

Donald Trump’s administration has completed 265 miles of wall at the Mexico-American border. Mexico still has not paid for the construction. 

Fracking

Neither candidate wishes to ban fracking.

Broadband Accessibility 

Both candidates support $20 billion or more in funding better broadband access in rural areas.

Student Loans

Joe Biden proposes monthly student loan payments at 5 percent of borrowers’ discretionary income on a plan for 20 years. Biden would reform a public service loan forgiveness program signed by George W. Bush in 2007.

Donald Trump proposes monthly payments that are 12.5 percent of borrowers’ discretionary income. Undergraduate students would be on this plan for 15 years, and graduate students would be on this plan for 30 years. Trump wishes to repeal the public service loan forgiveness program.

For more information on Joe Biden’s campaign, visit joebiden.com.

For more information on Donald Trump’s campaign, visit donaldjtrump.com. 

Here’s a visual summary for our readers: