promoearn: Know Your Vote: The biggest issues

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Know Your Vote: The biggest issues

Welcome back to Know Your Vote, USA TODAY Network's one-week series on everything you need to know to be an informed voter.

Today, we're deep diving into this election's key issues, and where each presidential candidate stands.

Although their visions for solving Americans' largest problems differ, both have pledged to address inflation, lower taxes and support Israel in its war against Hamas. They have also both committed to ending federal taxes on tips.

Still, Harris and Trump have seriously different pitches for the nation. They diverge most on climate change, reproductive rights and gun control.

Before you cast your ballot, we're laying out where each candidate stands. Here's what Trump and Harris have said about major issues, in their own words.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have seriously different pitches for the nation.

Veronica Bravo

The economy

"Drill baby drill," Trump said in an Aug. 4, 2024 Fox News interview. "We have to bring prices down. If we bring energy down, other things are going to follow."

"I will take on big corporations that engage in illegal price gouging. I will take on corporate landlords that unfairly raise rents on working families," Harris said at an Aug. 10, 2024, Glendale, Arizona, rally .

Health care

"We're going to make the ACA much better than it is right now and much less expensive for you," Trump said regarding Obamacare without giving specifics in an April 11, 2024, Truth Social video.

"There are many factors that drive up healthcare costs and make medications more expensive," Harris said Aug. 29, 2023, at the White House. "And we will hold accountable those who try to put profits ahead of the health and wellbeing of the American people."

Abortion

"After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the 'shock' of everyone," Trump said in a May 17, 2023, Truth Social post.

"How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need," Harris said at a Minnesota Planned Parenthood March 14, 2024. "We have to be a nation that trusts women."

Climate

"You sort of can't get away from [fossil fuels] at this moment. I mean, someday you might be able to. But I do hear we have anywhere from 100 to 500 years left," Trump said in an Aug. 12, 2024, X Spaces conversation with Tesla founder Elon Musk.

"Every day, all across our nation, we feel and see the impact of the climate crisis," Harris said July 14, 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland. "Most people can no longer deny it because it is so obvious."

Gun violence

"Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day," he said Feb. 9, 2024, at an NRA event.

"Solutions do exist. It's a false choice to suggest you either have to choose between supporting the Second Amendment or passing reasonable gun safety laws," Harris said Sept. 22, 2023, at the White House.

The border

"I'll shift massive portions of the existing federal law enforcement apparatus to immigration enforcements," Trump said on June 24, 2023, at a Fath & Freedom Coalition event. "We must use any and all resources necessary to stop this incredible, incredible invasion."

"I was attorney general of a border state. I went after the transnational gangs, the drug cartels and the human traffickers," Harris said at an Aug. 10, 2024, Glendale, Arizona, rally. "I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won, so I know what I'm talking about."

Policing

"I'm also going to indemnify all police officers and law enforcement officials throughout the United States from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong action on crime," Trump said Tuesday at a Dec. 19, 2023, campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa.

"Trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve is essential for public safety. Police misconduct undermines that trust—and threatens the right to equal justice under law," Harris said in a Dec. 18, 2023, statement.

Israel/Gaza

"Iran was broke and they had no money for Hamas, and they had no money for Hezbollah," Trump said of his four years in office on Feb. 24, 2024, at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "If I were president, Israel would have never been attacked."

"Now is the time to get a cease-fire deal and get the hostages deal done," Harris said at an Aug. 10, 2024, Glendale, Arizona, rally.

Ukraine

"I'll meet with Putin, I'll meet with Zelenskyy. They both have weaknesses and they both have strengths. And within 24 hours that war will be settled," Trump said during a May 10, 2023 CNN Town Hall.

"Russia's aggression is not only an attack on the lives and the freedom of the people of Ukraine... [it] is also an attack on international rules and norms and the principles embodied in the U.N. Charter," Harris said June 15, 2024 at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine.

Taxes

"I brought taxes way down. Way, way, way down," Trump said during his Republican National Convention speech July 18, 2024. "We'll do it again, but we'll do it even better."

"We will pass a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans," Harris said during her Democratic National Convention speech Aug. 22, 2024.

We're always covering the latest on the issues that matter to you. Read more about them at usatoday.com.

Tomorrow, we'll dive into this election's most important down-ballot races, from the Senate and House to ballot initiatives across the country.

-The USA TODAY Network 2024 Election Team