President Biden and former President Trump will seek to contrast each other on politics and current events when they meet in their first presidential debate since 2020 on Thursday evenings in Atlanta.
But the CNN debate represents a unique moment because both men have solid track records and solid voting bases, leaving only a tiny group of voters up for grabs.
Need a refresher on each candidate’s stance on critical issues?
Here’s a look at what Biden and Trump said on key issues.
abortion
Biden has made abortion a central theme of his election campaign and has stated that he supports women’s reproductive freedom.
Biden urged Congress to restore abortion protections guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, which made the medical procedure legal until the fetus was viable, which generally means about 23 to 24 weeks into pregnancy. His administration has Steps taken to protect access to abortion after Roe.
Biden is a practicing Catholic and his views on the abortion issue have evolved over the years. He argued during an interview with Washingtonian Magazine In 1974, he said the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe vs. Wade had “gone too far.”
“I don’t believe a woman has the sole right to decide what should happen to her body,” he continued.
During a 2012 vice presidential debate against former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Biden acknowledged his faith and beliefs but argued that he could not impose those views on others.
“Life begins at conception. That is the judgment of the Church. I accept it in my personal life,” Biden said. said then.
“I don’t think we have the right to tell other people that women can’t control their bodies. In my view, that’s a decision between them and their doctor. And the Supreme Court – I’m not going to get involved in that,” he later added.
Trump has also changed his position on the abortion issue over the years.
During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in 1999, Trump said described himself as “very pro-choice”.
The former president has in recent years praised the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion, because during his term he appointed three conservative justices who formed the majority opinion in overturning the Supreme Court decision.
Trump said abortion policy should be left to the states and has signaled He would not sign a federal abortion ban, although one is unlikely to land on his desk. His administration supported a House bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
At the same time, Trump has suggested that some states have gone too far with their abortion laws. called Florida’s six-week abortion ban “a terrible thing” And proposed Arizona’s almost complete abortion ban went too far. He has said he supports exceptions that allow abortions in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.
Foreign policy
The war in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas have underlined a contrast in the way Trump and Biden conduct foreign policy and who they consider allies.
Biden supported aid to Ukraine during Russia’s invasion of the former Soviet Union and called on allies to do the same. He met this month with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the D-Day commemoration in Normandy (France) and during the G7 summit in Italy.
Biden also signed a pact with Ukraine earlier this month This suggests that the United States continued to support the country throughout the war.
Meanwhile, Biden has faced a more complex balancing act with Israel. The president stood behind Israel after the October 7 Hamas attack, saying in speeches more than a week after the attack: “As long as the United States stands – and we will stand forever – we will never abandon you.”
He’s also pushed back against the idea that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. But his government’s actions have embarrassed him among progressive and teenage voters who have expressed outrage at the tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza.
At the same time, Biden pushed for a ceasefire in the region and has collides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about his handling of the war.
Trump’s approach to both conflicts is different. former president sometimes praised Russian President Vladimir Putin called him “very savvy” and “smart.” He also suggested that Russia could “do whatever they want” if NATO member states do not reach the minimum quota of two percent of their gross domestic product for defense spending.
Trump has claimed he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if he were president, but he has not given details on how he plans to do that.
The former president criticized Israel for his counterattack in Gaza. During his first term, Trump was a great supporter of Israel and even moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He has demanded Israel to “end the problem” and warned that Israelis were losing public support.
Business
Biden has strived to make the economy one of his strengths during his time in office, and his administration offered extensive Covid-19 relief, pumping money into Americans’ pockets as they struggled with the pandemic.
But as the economy recovered from the COVID-19 recession, inflation soared as supply chain problems, the war in Ukraine and a historically powerful labor market pushed up prices. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates to stabilize the economy in the face of the influx of money, bringing inflation down from a four-decade high to levels near 2 percent.
In addition to passing the American Rescue Plan in 2021, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which aimed to reduce health care costs and encourage investment in neat energy.
While prices are no longer rising as rapidly, Republicans are using the higher prices as an opportunity to criticize “Bidenomics,” arguing that Democrats’ policies are the reason Americans still feel a cognitive dissonance between economic progress and pain at the gas pump.
Biden has promised not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $400,000 a year, but has called for a tax boost on billionaires and vast corporations.
Trump argues that he will continue the work he began in his first term by Increase in tariffs on imports from other countries – a measure that economists have warned could be a tax on American consumers. At a campaign event in Las Vegas, the former president also suggested Abolition of the tax on tips by employees in the service sector.
Trump would also push to make enduring the tax cuts he signed in 2017. Those individual tax cuts expire in 2025, while the corporate tax rate cut is already enduring.
immigration
The immigration issue is a sensitive topic for Biden.
The Biden administration sought Repeal Title 42 in 2022However, he used this policy to deport more people than Trump.
Title 42 was introduced under Trump, ostensibly as a measure against the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing US authorities to quickly expel migrants at the border.
More recently, Biden announced executive action A law was passed earlier this month that again allowed the summary expulsion of immigrants who entered the country illegally to seek asylum. Biden’s measure takes effect when the seven-day average of border encounters exceeds 2,500 – a threshold that has been exceeded every month since February 2021 – and provides for confined exceptions. The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that the seven-day average had fallen below 2,400 encounters.
Weeks after cracking down on asylum policy, the Biden administration the probation program expanded to include foreign nationals who have resided in the country for at least a decade and are married to a U.S. citizen.
Meanwhile, one of Trump’s most celebrated immigration policies was “building the wall,” or building a barrier between Mexico and the United States. In his immigration plea, he used inflammatory language, saying that migrants entering the country illegally would “poison the blood” of the nation.
On Trump’s campaign website, he promises to “end catch-and-release, restore the ‘Remain in Mexico’ principle, and eliminate asylum fraud.” He called for a Mass deportation of immigrants who have entered the country illegally and said he would need the lend a hand of local police to do so.
crime
Biden’s American Rescue Plan included millions in funding for local police departments, and in 2022 he signed an executive bill addressing police apply of force and increasing police accountability.
The executive action also established a database for federal police agencies to track police officers removed from office for misconduct.
The Biden administration has also taken steps to address controversial police practices, such as limiting no-knock search warrants and ending chokeholds by federal police.
Earlier this month, Biden gave a speech at a conference on gun safety. The White House has attempted to highlight its efforts to curb mass shootings and other forms of gun violence, including the bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, which, among other firearms restrictions, would require increased background checks for gun buyers ages 18 to 21.
Violent crime declined significantly in early 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. the FBI saidThe numbers are seen as a victory for the Biden administration as Republicans focus on crime ahead of the election.
Among other things, Trump has called for the cutting of funding for federal agencies such as the Justice Department and the FBI in the past when it comes to crime. He also positions himself as a staunch supporter of law enforcement and supports, among other things, police immunity.
Trump card signed the First Step Act, which reduced minimum sentences, increased penalty points for well-behaved prisoners seeking shorter sentences, and was intended to reduce recidivism. However, Trump barely mentioned the criminal justice reform bill during his campaign.
Sylvan Lane contributed
