Election Primer: A Guide to the 2016 Election

Election Day is less than a week away. Here are some key issues that you might want to know about before going to the polls.

Joe Corcoran, Staff Writer|November 7, 2016

Election Primer: A Guide to the 2016 Election
  • TRADE: Clinton states her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), stating she has been against it since the proposal’s inception. This has been a key talking point of the election, since Clinton did refer to the proposal as the “gold standard” several years back. So she has not been fully against the proposal since the beginning, but certainly did not change sides because Trump is against the deal, as he claims.
  • ECONOMY: Clinton has suggested her plan on fixing the economy would be very similar to President Barack Obama’s. She concluded that Obama has gotten the nation “back on its feet, but we are not running yet,” and stated that she would continue many of his fundamental ideals to contribute to the economy.
  • IMMIGRATION: On foreign affairs, Trump has isolated himself with a policy that includes the deportation of all illegal immigrants, extreme venting for refugees from the Syrian crisis, and building a wall in order to achieve secure borders between the United States and Mexico. While Clinton has not necessarily isolated herself with her policies, she has caused some controversy. Many believe she wants total open border, she denies this of course. She also wants to expand the amount the amount of refugees allowed into the United States, and create an easier immigration process from Mexico to the United States.
  • ABORTION: The two candidates have strong positions that are almost polar opposites on the topic of abortion. Trump is one of the far more pro-life candidates in the past several elections, while Clinton is strongly pro-choice.
  • ENVIRONMENT: Trump believes that our nation’s energy source should be coal, shale gas, and other American sources. He believes in using them in a clean and appropriate way. Trump has also called climate change a “hoax,” believing the increase of global temperature to not be man-made. Clinton believes that our nation’s energy source should be from renewable energy sources built within the United States. Clinton also believes that climate change is a man-made problem caused by the carbon dioxide emissions.