A Beginner’s Guide to the 2016 Presidential Candidates

In the next year, we will be electing the next President of the United States, and for many Americans, this means trying to keep up with the impossible amount of media in order to differentiate and get judgment on each candidate. And now, with Jon Stewart gone, blending in with your annoying politically aware friends is harder than ever! Luckily for you, this article is here to help.

Republicans

(In order of popularity according to CNN’s poll on August 28th)

• Donald Trump– 24% of Republican voters support Donald Trump, former host of “The Apprentice,” which puts him in the lead. In addition to the most liked Republican candidate, Trump is also the most controversial. Trump prides himself on speaking his mind, never being “politically correct,” as he put it during the GOP debate on August 6^th. Trump wants to increase the amount of times a year we cut spending, in order to address increases in the deficit. He believes in limiting restrictions on guns, traditional marriage, and lower individual taxes and ending corporate ones. Most recently, he’s released his immigration plan for if he is elected. He has proposed a plan for a nationwide system to verify worker’s legal status, and wants a “wall” built between our border and Mexico’s. In addition, he believes that children born in the United States to undocumented parents should not be considered citizens, and can be deported. The media focuses a lot on Trump because of some of his outrageous statements toward women and minorities, however, his polling numbers show that he is a serious competitor in this election.

• Jeb Bush– 13% of likely Republican voters prefer former President George W. Bush’s brother, and former Florida governor, Jeb, to Trump. Like most Republicans, Bush stands against the Affordable Care Act (calling it a “monstrosity”), and wants to replace it with a “market oriented” alternative. Rather than creating a legal status for undocumented residents, he’d like to create a provisional, legal status but limit family-related legal immigration. Bush, while personally opposed to same-sex marriage, called, earlier this year, for people to “respect” same-sex marriages. He wants to cancel any nuclear deal President Obama creates with Iran, and strengthen ties with Israel, saying that any deal would allow Iran to intimidate the rest of then Middle East.

• Ben Carson– 9% of voters support this former neurosurgeon. He believes that climate change is “irrelevant,” which he said in an interview in November, and that temperature change is cyclical and inevitable. He wants little limits on gun ownership, with the exception of the mentally ill and people convicted of crimes. He stands for national legalization of medical marijuana, but not for recreational use. When it comes to immigration, he says that undocumented residents should be granted access to a “national guest worker program,” but only after they’ve left the country first, which he explained in his 2014 National Journal Op-Ed. Lastly, he wants to replace the Affordable Care Act with a system that gives every American a $2,000 health savings account annually, which they can transfer to other family members, and can use for any medical need.

• Fondly Mentioned: In addition to the top 3, the Republican party has many other candidates that deserve mention such as Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Lindsay Graham, and Rick Santorum

Democrats

(In order of popularity according to CNN’s poll on August 28th)

• Hillary Clinton– 47% of Democratic voters support Secretary of State and wife of former President Bill Clinton. This is Hillary’s second time running for President, the first being in 2008 against Barack Obama. She is against No Child Left Behind, although she has no public stance on Common Core. She agrees with the executive order about immigration that Obama passed, and wants to waive deportation for some immigrants, and give undocumented residents an easier path to legal status. She’d like to keep and strengthen the Affordable Care Act. She is a supporter of same-sex marriage and legal abortion. She’d also like to cut taxes for the middle class, and may propose to keep capital gains taxes below 20%, as she suggested in a primary debate in ’08. Before she makes a stance on legalization of recreational marijuana, she wants to see results from states where it’s been legalized, in addition to more studies and research. She’s incredibly popular among women and most liberal voters.

• Bernie Sanders– 29% of voters support “Bernie” over Clinton. One of his biggest stances is his statement against Super PACs and use of private money in government. The money for his campaign has solely been raised by supporters, rather than having PAC money behind him. When it comes to the environment, he wants to charge companies for their carbon emissions and use that money to enhance renewable energy technology. He is a supporter of two years of free tuition at state college, and provide $18 billion to state governments to cut tuition for state colleges by 55%. He has a mixed approach to gun control, wanting to ban assault weapons, but doesn’t want a federal handgun waiting period. Like Clinton, he wants to cut taxes on the middle class and raise them on the upper. He is more liberal on economic issues than Clinton, which makes some liberals prefer Sanders, however, he does not appeal to a “broader coalition,” as the New York Times put it, which is why he lags behind her in the polls.

• Joe Biden– Although he hasn’t officially declared that he is running, our current Vice President Joe Biden is polling at 14% with Democratic voters. He believes that our economy does not work for middle class Americans, and he wants to make middle class citizens’ lives easier. He’s a supporter of choice when it comes to abortion, however, is openly against same-sex marriage (although is in support of civil unions), but doesn’t want there to be a law banning those marriages, even though he doesn’t agree with them. He supports Barack Obama’s plan to cut taxes for those who earn less than $250,000 a year, and rising taxes for those who earn more than that. He is popular with Democratic voters who supported Obama over Hillary in ’08, but are not as liberal as Sanders.

• Fondly Mentioned: The other Democratic candidates are Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee.