If the American electorate were entirely rational, it would make a choice of president between Donald Trump or Kamala Harris based purely on their policies.
In reality, however, voters are more complicated than that. For some, the decision to be made today will be driven by party loyalty, for others a judgment on one or other candidate’s character and personality. But putting all that aside, if the presidential election were down to policies alone — and assuming you were eligible — how would you vote?
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We analysed key positions taken by Trump and Harris, on their websites and in campaign speeches, and came up with this US president quiz.
Did your results surprise you? Maybe, or maybe not.
Trump and Harris are poles apart on almost every issue, with ramifications that could ripple around the world as well as across the US.
For example, Trump is pledging to impose high tariffs on China and is less in favour of generous financial support towards Ukraine, which has been a central policy of President Biden’s administration. He is also seen as more pro-Israel than his Democratic opponent, who is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Despite this ceasefire call Harris is expected to lose votes, particularly in battleground states such as Michigan, over the administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
While some issues like the economy and environment are key topics in every election around the world, others, including abortion and gun control, are more distinctively American.
Another factor is the federal structure of the US government and how the presidency interacts with the Senate and House of Representatives.
As well as electing a president, the US will also choose 435 members of the House of Representatives, and 34 of 100 senators. Elections to both chambers are expected to be close.
Although the president is often described as the most powerful person in the world, this power can be heavily constrained by Congress if either chamber is controlled by the opposing party. It remains to be seen whether the government will be unified, making it easier for an incoming president to enact policy, or divided, as has been the case more often than not in recent decades.
The Supreme Court is also a big factor in determining what the president can and cannot do. In his four years as president between 2017 and 2021, Trump appointed three of the court’s nine justices, the same number as the Democratic presidents Obama and Biden did in a combined 12 years.
These appointments have left the court with a strongly conservative bent.
Our quiz asks “should abortion be legal everywhere?”, with a “yes” response indicating support for Harris and a “no” meaning support for Trump. But changing the national abortion landscape is not as simple as winning the presidency.
A 2022 ruling by the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion. Trump’s stance on the issue has been shifting and at times contradictory, but a consistent refrain is that abortion law should be up to individual states. In practice this means restrictions and bans in many places.
Harris’s stance is that abortion should be legal everywhere. However, after the Supreme Court ruling, liberalising the law nationally would be a formidable challenge and almost inconceivable if the Senate or House were in Republican hands.
While Harris is hoping the abortion issue will inspire the Democrats’ voter base, Trump is banking on more voters being motivated by immigration, which many feel the Biden administration has mishandled.
Voters slightly favour Trump on who can more be trusted to run the economy, with high inflation hitting many voters’ pockets in the years after his presidency.
Democrats contend that it was the pandemic and the Ukraine war, rather than Democratic policies, that caused this spike, and point to the fact that inflation has since come down sharply.
Who did you get? Let us know in the comments
