Campaign Issues and Candidate Positions

Biden and Trump disagreed on a wide range of issues and concerns about government. In many cases, their differences reflected typical differences between Democrats and Republicans. The issues that received substantial attention during the campaign included the following:

COVID-19

In December 2019, the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan, China. By February 2020, the first confirmed cases were detected in the U.S. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. By July 2020, the U.S. was averaging about 65,000 new cases of COVID-19, and over 1,000 deaths, per day. Biden criticized the Trump Administration?s handling of the pandemic, arguing that much more could have been done at the federal level to provide adequate testing and to enforce mask mandates. Trump defended his handling of the crisis and took credit for ?Operation Warp Speed,? which was the government?s plan to accelerate the development of a vaccine.

Economy

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy fell into recession. Biden, on the one hand, claimed that the recession could have been prevented if initial efforts to address the pandemic had been stronger. Trump, on the other hand, made the case that his handling of the pandemic allowed businesses to reopen more quickly than Democrats wanted, and thus the recession was short-lived. Also, Trump argued that his changes to U.S. trade policy had resulted in the return of thousands of manufacturing jobs lost by previous presidents due to cheap imports from other countries, such as China. Biden argued that Trump had launched a disruptive and self-defeating trade war with China, and that Trump had caused economic turmoil by imposing tariffs on U.S. allies and revising major trade agreements with Europe and other North American countries. Biden promised to reunite the U.S. with allies on trade. Biden favored an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Trump publicly stated an openness to increasing the minimum wage but took no action as president.

Health care

Trump, who had promised to repeal and replace Obamacare (i.e., the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) with a better program, only managed to repeal the individual mandate. He did not, however, pass any replacement. Biden supported keeping Obamacare in place, and creating a public option, which would be an alternative to private health insurance.

Immigration

Trump installed heavier restrictions on illegal immigration from the Mexican border and issued several executive orders that prohibited travel and refugees from predominantly Muslim nations. Biden opposed Trump’s immigration policies. Instead, he favored reforming immigration policy to allow many of those who were living here illegally to remain and to have a possible pathway to U.S. citizenship.

Taxes

President Trump and the Republican-led Congress passed substantial tax cuts, with much of the benefit going to wealthier individuals, and claimed his tax policy changes led to unprecedented economic growth. Biden promised to repeal the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy to fund more investment in education, green-energy, and health care. He promised not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 per year.

Infrastructure spending

Biden favored increased spending on infrastructure. Trump also favored increased spending on infrastructure, although he was unable to negotiate any infrastructure legislation with Congress as President.

Energy and the environment

As President, Trump lifted hundreds of government restrictions and regulations implemented by the Obama Administration to help protect the environment, arguing that they hurt the economy. Trump also took steps to promote offshore drilling for oil and gas and to allow the construction of the Keystone pipeline?a long-delayed oil pipeline project that would carry Canadian oil through much of the American Midwest. Biden opposed both positions. Finally, as President, Trump exited the Paris Climate Accords, whereas Biden promised that the U.S. would rejoin the Accords under his administration.

Social issues

Biden favored keeping abortion legal. Trump opposed legalized abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and where the life of the mother was in danger. As President, Trump appointed three pro-life justices to the Supreme Court. Biden promised to appoint pro-choice justices to the federal bench if elected. On criminal justice reform, Trump campaigned as the law-and-order candidate who would crack down on crime and riots, but also emphasized his support for racial equality on sentencing via bipartisan drug sentencing reform and his unprecedented number of pardons/commutations for incarcerated nonviolent drug offenders. Biden, by comparison, had to soften his legislative record on increased mandatory sentencing for drug offenders that dramatically impacted the African American community. He did so by promising to address systemic racism in law enforcement and other related institutions.

Foreign affairs and national security

Trump increased military spending as President. Biden supported a transition away from supporting what he called outdated ?legacy systems? of national defense. Trump also put more emphasis on combating terrorism, including imposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, which Biden opposed. Both Trump and Biden were in favor of withdrawing U.S. troops from their positions and Afghanistan and engaging the Taliban in peace talks. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear agreement, which was negotiated and signed by the Obama-Biden Administration. Biden promised to renegotiate the deal if Iran returned to a condition of compliance.

Additional information on the positions of the candidates on the issues:

The platforms: