As we arrive on Election Day of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Race, you or your loved ones may still be undecided about who to vote for. We have compiled a side-by-side, nonpartisan comparison of the top two presidential campaigns—Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump—in three major areas: economy, health, and immigration.
Economy
Taxes
Vice President Harris has stated that no taxes will increase for the middle class for those who earn less than $400,000 a year, and that taxes will be cut for more than 100 million working-class and middle-class Americans.
Former President Trump has stated that he wants to eliminate personal income taxes, but has also acknowledged that he has no plan to accomplish this. Economic experts say that this action would lose revenue for the U.S. To make up for this loss, Trump stated that he would increase tariffs, such as tariffs between 60% and 100% on Chinese goods. However, economic experts respond that higher tariffs will raise the prices of consumer goods as foreign companies “pass the cost of higher taxes onto customers”. Economists have calculated that this would cost an everyday American family about $4,000 a year if enacted.
Support for Small Businesses
Harris has stated that she will launch 25 million new businesses by the end of her first term—over 10 million more than Trump during his term—and increase startup expense tax deductions for new small businesses from $5,000 to $50,000.
Trump’s platform does not mention small businesses. However, economists expect American businesses, particularly manufacturers, farmers and ranchers, and importers, will be negatively affected.
Lower the Costs of Living
Harris has stated that she and her Cabinet will fight for student debt relief, and are already in the process of providing about $170 billion in student debt relief to about 5 million students. She also pledged to cap rising food costs and place a federal ban on price gouging.
Trump’s platform does not mention student debt relief at all.
Trump has stated that he will reduce the burden of regulations and reinstate his Deregulation Policies, claiming that these deregulations saved $11,000 per American household. The calculations for how the Trump campaign reached this number are not cited and could not be found.
During his presidency, Trump’s Deregulation Policies included reversing about 115 policies such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan and regulations on air pollution.
For instance, the Trump administration previously argued that complying with EPA regulations on limiting toxic mercury pollution from power plants cost more than $9 billion, while the Obama administration asserted that the regulation actually helped save $6 million in healthcare costs by reducing sulfur dioxide and other pollutants.
The consequences of having no EPA regulations on pollution have been proven to disproportionately affect low-income and ethnic minority households, thus raising healthcare costs. Additionally, climate scientists say that we have less than 20 years to reverse the course of climate change, which also disproportionately affects low-income and ethnic minority households.
Overall, the policies that Trump tried to deregulate in the past have spanned many different categories—health, labor, finance, transportation, and children, youth, and families.
Jobs
Harris has stated that she will raise the federal minimum wage and end sub-minimum wages for tipped workers, establish federal paid family leave and medical leave, and sign pro-union laws—such as the PRO Act—to support workers who form unions. Under her vice presidency, more than 700,000 manufacturing jobs have been added. She contrasts this to Trump’s loss of 178,000 manufacturing jobs at the end of his presidency. Additionally, Harris oversaw investments, such as 2x more construction of manufacturing facilities, in communities where over 80 percent of them saw their manufacturing sectors shrink in the last two decades. New jobs grew 4x as quickly under her vice presidency as under Trump’s administration in 1,000 “left-behind” counties—communities “defined by lagging population and income growth from 2000 to 2016.”
Trump has stated that he will end inflation and make America affordable again, including large tax cuts for workers. No further details were included.
Both Harris and Trump agree on getting rid of tax on tips for workers, and the importance of domestic manufacturing.
Harris has proposed funding “a network of existing and new federal, state, local, and private business incubators, and small business innovation hubs” to help small businesses and local suppliers access technical help, capital, and customers to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.
Trump has emphasized domestic manufacturing with low inflation to make America the dominant energy producer in the world, not be at the “mercy of Foreign Nations,” and return to the Republican Party’s “roots as the Party of Industry, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and Workers.”
According to Moody’s Analytics, Trump’s platform will cause a recession by mid-2025, cost 3.2 million jobs, add over 1 percent to inflation, and reduce middle-class families’ incomes by $2,000. The Penn Wharton Model also found that Trump’s tax and spending proposals will increase government deficits by $5.8 trillion over the next ten years.
Affordable Housing
Both Harris and Trump agree on helping new homebuyers.
Harris stated that she will build 3 million new affordable homes and rentals for working families and first-time homebuyers, who will get $25,000 in down payment assistance and a $10,000 tax credit. She will also lower rent costs by prohibiting land speculation by wealthy investors.
Trump stated that he will reduce mortgage rates by slashing inflation, opening limited parts of federal land for new home construction, promoting homeownership through tax incentives and support for first-time buyers, and cutting unnecessary regulations that raise housing costs.
Financial Relief for Families
Both Harris and Trump agree on expanding the child tax credit.
Harris stated that she will restore the child tax credit up to $3,600. In the past, Harris helped place the tie-breaking vote to pass this child tax credit, which ended up being one of the largest tax cuts ever passed for the middle class. According to economists and the U.S. Census, the child tax credit also reduced child poverty rates to record lows, cutting Black child poverty over 50%, Hispanic child poverty by 43%, and significantly cutting Asian American, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and white child poverty rates. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, approximately 19 million children in low-income families currently receive less than the maximum credit.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 16 million children would benefit from Harris’ proposal and 400,000 children would be lifted out of poverty in the first year of the proposal. It would also reduce the current number of about 2.6 million children (including 71,000 Asian children, 959,000 Latino children, 654,000 Black children, 79,000 Native American children, and 755,000 white children) living in families with incomes below the poverty line. In fact, the child tax credit has previously already reduced food insecurity—which is a lack of access to sufficient, quality food—by more than 20 percent among families with children.
Trump has also voiced support on his platform for expanding the Child Tax Credit. However, he did not provide a plan.
Harris also plans to expand the earned income tax credit to approximately $1,500 for workers without children. She also plans to introduce a new child tax credit of up to $6,000 for families with newborns.
Health
Abortion
Harris has stated that she will sign Roe v. Wade protections back into law. Her campaign has been officially endorsed by major pro-choice advocacy groups, including Emily’s List and Reproductive Freedom for All.
Trump has stated that his campaign opposes late-term abortion, and supports mothers and policies related to advancing prenatal care, birth control, and IVF. Three of the Supreme Court justices that he appointed during his presidency helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
Harris has warned voters that Trump will sign a national abortion ban if he becomes president, a claim that Trump has not publicly denounced.
Affordable Healthcare and Drug Prices
Harris and Trump agree on controlling healthcare and prescription drug costs.
Harris has stated that she will cap insulin prices at $35 for everyone and not just senior citizens, cap out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs at $2,000 per year for everyone, and expand subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans to save people an average of $700 on their health insurance premiums. Her team campaigns on the idea that affordable healthcare is a right, not a privilege.
The Trump campaign stated that they will expand access to new affordable healthcare and prescription drug options. However, his platform does not specify how he plans to accomplish this.
Harris has also shared that she has been canceling medical debt and will have canceled $7 billion in medical debt for up to 3 million Americans by 2026. She announced that she will continue working with states to cancel medical debt and ban medical debt from credit reports.
Trump’s platform does not mention medical debt.
Guns
The Harris campaign has stated that their goal is to protect communities from gun violence. Harris aims to accomplish this with universal background checks for guns, bans on assault weapons, and proven gun violence prevention programs.
The Trump campaign has stated that their goal is to defend the right to keep and bear arms.
Medicare
Both Harris and Trump agree on increasing resources toward at-home Senior Care.
Harris has stated that she will fight attacks from Trump and his allies who want to privatize Social Security and cut Medicare benefits. She will continue to encourage states to expand Medicaid, Medicare, and healthcare coverage for all Americans. More specifically, Harris has detailed how she will expand Medicare through a new Medicare at Home program that will cover senior citizen home care for the first time ever, and cover vision and hearing. Both Medicare expansions will lower expensive hospital and care facility costs, and support the dignity of senior citizens.
Trump has stated that he will fight for and protect Social Security and Medicare with no cuts, including no changes to the retirement age. However, in the past year, Trump has been inconsistent with what his platform states and has mentioned cuts to Social Security on multiple occasions.
Trump has gone back and forth on whether or not he wants to repeal the ACA and replace it with an alternative plan, or keep the ACA and improve it. J.D. Vance, Trump’s candidate for Vice President, has suggested removing protections for people with pre-existing conditions. According to KFF Health News, this would increase costs for people with chronic health conditions and place insurance coverage out of reach for them. Despite this contradiction, Trump stated that he supports chronic disease prevention and management, long-term care, and expanded primary care.
Immigration
Harris has stated that she will bring back the bipartisan border security deal that Trump told Republican lawmakers to kill. The bipartisan deal includes comprehensive immigration reform with a legal pathway to citizenship.
Trump has stated that he will “seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” to reverse “Democrats’ destructive Open Borders Policies that have allowed criminal gangs and Illegal Aliens” to enter the U.S. However, no such open borders policies have ever existed. Seeking asylum is legal, and data has repeatedly shown that “immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born.” Furthermore, many Democratic policies, such as those of President Joe Biden, have continued some of Trump’s immigration policies.
Trump has reiterated that completing the border wall is how he will secure the Southern border. He will also “shift massive portions of Federal Law Enforcement to Immigration Enforcement” to strengthen ICE, and “use advanced technology to monitor and secure the Border.” Trump has also stated that border security will increase penalties for illegal entry and overstaying visas, and reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, the Travel Ban, and other similar policies. Trump asserts that he will carry out the “largest deportation operation in American history,” and “restore every Border Policy of the Trump administration.”