by Karen Garcia and Clare Duffy |
Amid the booming voices of news commentators and seemingly endless thinkpieces, knowing each candidate’s platform can be overwhelming. We’ve compiled a cheat sheet for the confused, curious or indecisive. The highlighted issues are relevant to the worries of today’s college students, and includes a standout point from each candidate. R = Republican; D = Democrat.
Hillary Clinton (D)
Former Secretary of State
Hometown: Park Ridge, Illinois (outside of Chicago)
Fun Fact: She puts hot sauce on everything.
Where she stands on…
The Economy: “I want the middle class to mean something again … that is one of the greatest inventions of the United States,” Clinton told The Skimm. She would like to see a revival of the middle class by raising incomes.
Education: Clinton wants to make it possible for current student-loan holders to refinance and believes in “income-contingent repayment” (paying back loans as a percentage of one’s income). She has proposed a plan, which is estimated to cost $350 billion over 10 years funded through a federal-state partnership, to reduce the cost of obtaining a degree at public colleges, provide grants to universities improving their graduation rate and restructure student loans.
Foreign Policy: As secretary of state, she worked to place tough sanctions on Iran, and she supports current Secretary of State John Kerry’s Iran nuclear deal. If elected commander-in-chief, she plans to be tough on enforcing the deal’s stipulations. In opposition to ISIS, she does believe there is a threat to be confronted but not by putting American troops on the ground.
Healthcare: “I’m very proud of the Affordable Care Act and what it has accomplished … but I think we have to do more,” Clinton told The Skimm. She wants to better address the cost of healthcare and follow through on Obamacare’s promise to help those struggling with mental health issues.
To vote: Must be registered Democrat to vote for Clinton in the Oregon primaries.
Ben Carson (R)
Retired Pediatric Neurosurgeon
Hometown: Detroit
Fun Fact: Carson found out as a child that his father was secretly married to another woman and had another family, an experience that he wrote about in his book.
Where he stands on…
The Economy: According to CNN, he said, “We’re putting ($18 trillion) on the backs of people coming behind us … If you tried to pay that back at a rate of $10 million a day, it would take you over 5,000 years.” He would like to create a Constitutional amendment that requires a yearly balanced budget, but has yet to present much of a plan as to how that balance would be accomplished.
Education: If elected, Carson plans to turn the Department of Education into an investigative body that would ensure that no institution of higher education was perpetuating a political bias — at the risk of losing their federal aid.
Foreign Policy: In November, Carson received heat for struggling to name allies against ISIS, incorrectly asserting that China was intervening in Syria and pronouncing the name of the militant group Hamas more like the “hummus” that you’d put in your veggie wrap. This caused him to slip in the polls, lose donations and one of his advisers even called him out, telling the New York Times about their weekly calls to “make him smart.”
Right to Bear Arms: “The Second Amendment is a cornerstone of our Constitution,” Carson said, according to his campaign website. “Without the right to bear arms, Americans would be unable to stand against a tyrannical government or foreign invader. The right of Americans to own and maintain legal arms is paramount, and that right should in no way be violated.”
To vote: Must be registered Republican to vote for Carson in the Oregon primaries.
Ted Cruz (R)
Senator from Texas
Hometown: Houston (but he was born in Calgary, Canada)
Fun Fact: He was a founder of the Harvard Latino Law Review.
Where he stands on…
The Economy: Wants to see economic growth and more jobs by creating a flat tax for all Americans and reforming regulations that he says are killing small business, including “repealing every word of Obamacare, which is just the biggest job killer in this country.” During a Republican debate, Cruz proposed auditing the Federal Reserve and returning to the gold standard, saying, "(The Fed) should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy, and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold."
Education: Cruz believes that improving the economy will help to create more jobs and opportunities for Americans, especially those graduating from universities.
Foreign Policy: Believes that “radical Islamic terrorists” have declared war on America and wants to be the commander-in-chief to help America fight back.
The Environment: Cruz does not believe that global warming is supported by data, according to CNN. “The last 15 years, there has been no recorded warming,” Cruz told CNN chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash. “Contrary to all the theories that — that they are expounding, there should have been warming over the last 15 years. It hasn’t happened.” To vote: Must be registered Republican to vote for Cruz in the Oregon primaries.
John Kasich (R)
Governor of Ohio
Hometown: McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania
Fun Fact: Kasich is good friends with Bono, the lead singer of U2.
Higher Education: In his home state of Ohio, Kasich has frozen tuition and fees increases for the next two years while a state task force helps schools control their costs.
Economy: Aims to lower income and corporate taxes, achieving the latter by ending some corporate tax breaks. He’s proposed raising consumption taxes, has proposed a state tax on fracking and strongly supports the privatization of social security.
Foreign Policy: Kasich is in favor of putting American boots on the ground along with taking part of an international coalition with nations in the Middle East and Europe. In addition to this, he told NBC News that he wants to create a new federal agency tasked with promoting Western Judeo-Christian values around the world. “We need to beam messages around the world about what it means to have a Western ethic, to be a part of a Christian-Judeo society…”
Healthcare: Kasich wants all healthcare regulation to be done by states, and wants to repeal Obamacare — though he did vote to expand Medicaid in Ohio. “I did expand Medicaid because I was able to bring Ohio money back home to treat the mentally ill, the drug addicted and help the working poor get health care."
Marco Rubio (R)
Senator from Florida
Hometown: Miami, Florida
Fun Fact: Rubio’s favorite movies are “Wedding Crashers,” “Pulp Fiction” and the “Godfather” trilogy. He’s also said he has Pitbull, Nicki Minaj, Coldplay and Eminem on his iPod.
Higher Education: As of Feb. 3, Rubio has not declared whether he supports affirmative action or not. He does, however, want to reform the accreditation system and emphasize the option of vocational schools as an alternative to four-year colleges.
Economy: Rubio believes that lowering the corporate income tax rate helps create jobs, and is against the increase of federal taxes, the privatization of social security and higher taxes on the wealthy.
Foreign Policy: Rubio believes that in order to defeat ISIS, the approach should be both physically aggressive and ideologically focused. In addition to putting American troops on the ground and expanding airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, on his campaign website Rubio said he would aim to empower rebels in Sunni nations to fight Assad and ISIS by providing training and weapons if necessary. “(Confronting ISIS) means establishing a coordinated political-military strategy against ISIS in tandem with Sunni Arab and local partners in the region.”
Syrian Refugees: Although in September 2015 Rubio said he could be “open” to the possibility of allowing some Syrian refugees in the U.S., according to his campaign website he’s now reversed his position. “…You can have 1,000 people come in, and 999 of them are just poor people fleeing oppression and violence, but one of them is an ISIS fighter.”
Bernie Sanders (D)
Senator from Vermont
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York City
Fun Fact: When he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, in the 1980s, Sanders inspired beat poet Allen Ginsberg's poem “Burlington Snow.”
Higher Education: Sanders is strongly supportive of affirmative action, and has famously said that he wants to make tuition free at public colleges and universities. In addition, he wants to cut student loan interest rates from 4.9 percent to 2.37 percent, prevent the federal government from profiting off of student loans and allow for the refinancing of loans at low interest rates — all of which would be paid for by taxing Wall Street speculators.
Economy: Sanders strongly disagrees with the privatization of social security and lowering the corporate income tax rate, but strongly supports higher taxes on the wealthy.
Foreign Policy: Throughout his career, Sanders has shown a chronic distaste toward using military force, specifically saying that the U.S. should keep in mind the mistakes made in Iraq in order to avoid making them in the future. He advocates that the U.S. take part in creating an international coalition led by Muslim nations to combat ISIS.
The Environment: Sanders is strongly against the Keystone XL pipeline, Arctic and offshore drilling, fracking and exports of liquefied natural gas and crude oil. He wants to invest in clean, sustainable energy, and cut carbon pollution by taxing it. Sanders has said, “Climate change is the greatest threat facing our planet. We must act boldly.”
Donald Trump (R)
President of the Trump Organization
Hometown: Queens, New York City
Fun Fact: In his 1997 book “The Art of the Comeback,” Trump admitted that he’s a germaphobe and hates shaking hands, referring to the act as “barbaric” in 1999.
Higher Education: Late last year on “Meet the Press,” Trump voiced his views on affirmative action: “…I'm fine with affirmative action. We've lived with it for a long time. And I lived with it for a long time. And I've have great relationships with lots of people.” Trump’s talk of education has otherwise been limited to ending the Common Core and largely cutting funding to the Department of Education.
Economy: Trump supports the privatization of social security and higher taxes on the wealthy. He also wants to reform taxes into zero, 10, 20 and 25 percent brackets.
Foreign Policy: Trump aims to drain ISIS of its wealth by taking control of the oil fields they control in Iraq, which would involve putting several thousand ground troops in the country. Trump also says it’s time for the U.S. to stop supporting Saudi Arabia, who he says is the biggest funder of terrorism in the world.
Gun Control: Trump has said that he would oppose any new gun control measure, and doesn’t believe that the U.S. should limit the sale of any kinds of firearms. During the sixth Republican debate, Trump said: “No. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now.”
