The presidential primaries and caucuses are less than a year away. Numerous candidates have already made their bids to run for president or have formed exploratory committees for their presidential campaigns. In this multimedia, we give a brief summary of each candidates' policies and beliefs.
NOTE: This multimedia is only meant to give basic background information of each candidates' policies and beliefs.
The Primaries and Caucuses
The 2020 candidates
Michael Bennet
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Speed up drug approval.
- Eliminate income cap for payroll taxes.
- Believes a resilient agricultural sector is vital to a strong economy.
- Believes in increasing access to markets abroad.
Photo credits: Michael Bennet Official Photo / US Senate / US Senate / public domain
Joe Biden
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Wants more action to combat climate change.
- Supports Paris climate accord.
- Promote the middle class by closing loopholes that benefit shareholders over laborers.
- Wants free public college.
- Raise the minimum wage.
- Ban assault weapons.
- Supports a path to citizenship for Dreamers.
- Advocate for Violence Against Women Act and preventing sexual assault.
Photo Credits: Official portrait of Vice President Joe Biden / David Lienemann / Flickr / public domain
Bill de Blasio
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Free phone calls for people in custody.
- Eliminate cash bail.
- Wants future without mass incarceration.
- Sue Big Pharma for opioid addiction
- Open overdose centers.
- 40% reduction in emissions by 2030.
- Invest in renewable energy.
- Enforce paid sick leave for temp workers.
Photo credits: Public Advocate Bill de Blasio / William Alatriste / Flickr / CC By-SA 2.0
Steve Bullock
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Cut business equipment tax.
- Increase funding for higher education.
- Invest in publicly funded early childhood education.
- Medicaid expansion is good for business and jobs.
- Wants more high-speed internet access in rural areas.
- Supports LGBTQ and abortion rights.
Photo credits: Montana Governor Steve Bullock / Yellowstone National Park / Flickr / public domain
Pete Buttigieg
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Abortion is a woman's choice.
- Supports Paris climate accord and Green New Deal.
- Get rid of the Electoral College.
- Medicare-for-All who want it.
- Lower drug prices.
- Debt-free college for lower income families.
- Supports higher teacher pay.
- Create incentives for states to reverse mass incarceration and abolish policies perpetuating racial inequality and disparities in the criminal legal system.
Photo credits: Pete Buttigieg - 33249197628 / Marc Nozell / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Julian Castro
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Allow abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
- Protections for LGBTQ population.
- Two free years of higher education.
- Medicare-for-All, paid for by tax on wealthy.
- Ban assault weapons.
- Rejoin the Paris Climate Treaty.
- Transgender Americans should be able to serve in the military.
- Allow a path to citizenship for most undocumented immigrants.
Photo credits: Julian Castro / Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
John Delaney
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Increase federal investment in renewable energy.
- Reengage in the international community by re-joining the Paris Agreement.
- Implement a federal carbon tax.
- Create a new public health care plan for all Americans under the age of 65 while preserving traditional Medicare.
- Keep private insurance options for health care.
- Direct investment in communities that have been left behind by globalization and technological change.
- Protect voting rights and ensure people have the ability to vote.
Photo credits: John Delaney on stage at the Heartland Forum in Storm Lake, Iowa / Lorie Shaull / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Tulsi Gabbard
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Abortion should remain legal and accessible.
- Tuition-free community college for all.
- No more fossil fuels for electricity by 2050.
- Ban assault weapons.
- Supports Medicare-for-All; tax wealthiest 5% to pay for it.
- Allow transgender Americans in the military.
- Ban anti-abortion limitations on abortion services.
Photo credits: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard speaking at the People's Rally, Washington DC / Lorie Shaull / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Kirsten Gillibrand
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Fewer limits on abortion.
- Make public higher education debt-free.
- Make childcare more affordable and accessible.
- Expand Medicare and add not-for-profit public option.
- Get rid of ICE.
- End outsourcing of jobs and see "Made in America" again.
- Wants universal health care.
- Protect voting rights and the integrity of elections.
Photo credits: SenatorGillibrandpic / Gillibrand2010 / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Mike Gravel
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Supports the Green New Deal.
- Cut military spending.
- Break up big businesses.
- Wants universal health care.
- Remove marijuana from the list of drugs on the Controlled Substance Act.
- Abolish the Electoral College.
- Get rid of the death penalty.
- Eliminate all tax expenditures designed to benefit oil, gas, and coal companies.
Photo credits: Mike Gravel / Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Kamala Harris
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Legalize marijuana.
- Free tuition at four-year public colleges.
- Create national prekindergarten program.
- Ban assault weapons.
- Wants universal, government-run health care, or Medicare-for-All.
- Abortion and same-sex marriage should be legal.
- Create new direct tax breaks for middle and lower classes.
- Believes more action is needed to combat climate change.
Photo credits: Kamala Harris / Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
John Hickenlooper
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Supports gay marriage and LGBTQ rights.
- Wants a 5-year initiative to support startup businesses.
- Supports universal health care.
- Wants a 26% reduction in emissions from 2005 levels by 2025.
- Supports Paris climate accord.
- Believes in free trade.
- Wants universal background checks for gun purchases.
Photo credits: 2017 Solar Decathlon / Department of Energy Solar Decathlon / Flickr / public domain
Jay Inslee
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- End the death penalty.
- Supports carbon tax.
- Lower greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2035.
- increase minimum wage.
- Protect a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion or not.
- Wants to move towards universal health care.
Photo credits: Governor Jay Inslee / Governor Jay Inslee / Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
Amy Klobuchar
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Cut greenhouse gas emissions.
- Rejoin Paris climate deal.
- Expand Medicare to at least age 55.
- Provide more temporary work visas.
- Provide path to citizenship for most undocumented immigrants.
- Make abortions safe and rare.
- Supports LGBTQ rights.
Photo credits: Amy Klobuchar speaking at the Heartland Forum in Storm Lake, Iowa / Lorie Shaull / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Wayne Messam
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Cancel student loan debt for many Americans.
- Require immigration officials to have a warrant to enter city-owned buildings and schools.
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions around the world.
- Reenter the U.S. into the Paris climate agreement.
- Lower health care costs.
- Create stricter gun laws.
- Trust women to make their own decisions when it comes to their health.
Photo credits: Mayor Messam / unspecified / pbs twimg/ public domain
Seth Moulton
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Boost support of military veterans.
- Cut massive weapons program and replace with smart cyber technology and investment in research.
- Sponsor of the Green New Deal.
- Everyone should have access to affordable health care.
- increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 per hour by 2020.
- Supports immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for DACA recipients.
Photo credits: Seth Moulton / United States Government / Wikimedia Commons / public domain
Beto O'Rourke
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Rejoin Paris climate agreement.
- First two years of higher education should be debt free.
- Ban assault weapons.
- Create a government-run health insurance plan for all Americans.
- Give legal status to most undocumented residents and a path to citizenship for all Dreamers.
- Abortion should be legal with fewer restrictions.
- Legalize marijuana.
Photo credits: Beto O'Rourke / Beto O'Rourke / Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
Tim Ryan
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Abortion should be left up to women.
- Move toward renewable energy sources, away from foreign oil.
- Wants debt-free college.
- Believes in Medicare-for-All.
- Legalize marijuana.
- Supports LGBTQ rights.
- Supports stricter gun control laws.
Photo credits: Rep Tim Ryan 02 - Akron Ohio - 2016-10-03 / Tim Evanson / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Bernie Sanders
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Few or no government limits on abortion.
- Break up largest financial institutions.
- End fracking in the U.S.
- Reinforce voting rights to end voter suppression.
- Make public colleges, universities, and trade schools tuition-free.
- Guarantee health care to all people through a Medicare-for-All, single-payer program.
- Expand background checks for gun purchases.
- Help disadvantaged farmers get fair access to land and resources.
Photo credits: Bernie Sanders / Nick Solari / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Eric Swalwell
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Access safe, legal abortion without restrictions.
- Full access to contraception and reproductive health services.
- Enforce against anti-gay discrimination in public schools.
- Reform bankruptcy to protect jobs and retirement.
- Ban assault weapons.
- Supports Medicare-for-All.
- No interest on federal student loans.
- Pass Green New Deal legislation.
Photo credits: Eric Swalwell 114th official photo / United States Congress / Wikimedia Commons / public domain
Donald Trump
Republican
Policies and beliefs:
- Use military power to promote peace throughout the world.
- Eliminate the visa lottery.
- Move the country to a merit-based entry system.
- Open vast public land for coal, oil and gas exploitation.
- Reverse the trend of climbing government spending.
- Provide funding to rebuild national defense and strengthen America’s borders.
- Reform job training programs.
Photo credits: Donald Trump / Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Elizabeth Warren
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Wants to make public college free.
- Supports reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Supports Medicare-for-All.
- Cut federal defense budget.
- A strong military should act as a deterrent so the government does not have to use it as much.
- Provide abortion care for all women who need it.
- Foreign policy today serves the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of everyone else.
- Invest $100 billion over the next ten years in states and communities that are at the center of the opioid epidemic.
Photo credits: Elizabeth Warren / Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
William Weld
Republican
Policies and beliefs:
- Supports cutting taxes and reducing government spending.
- Supports gay marriage.
- Supports abortion.
- Supports LGBTQ rights.
- Blow up unnecessary state agencies.
- Supports increased Medicaid access.
- Wants closer ties with Canada and Mexico.
- Supports some form of legal status for undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
Photo credits: William Weld / Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Marianne Williamson
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Resist any effort to restrict or limit reproductive rights.
- Expand LGBTQ rights to end discrimination.
- $200 billion for reparations for slavery.
- universal pre-school; more teacher retention programs.
- Provide student loan amnesty.
- Green energy instead of coal, fracking, and nuclear.
- Provide proper prenatal care, regardless of ability to pay.
Photo credits: Marianne Williamson / Marc Nozell / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Andrew Yang
Democrat
Policies and beliefs:
- Support a woman's right to choose, including contraception.
- Supports LGBTQ rights.
- Lower cost of prescription drugs.
- Improving teacher salaries improves student success.
- Provide equal pay regardless of race or gender.
- Supports Medicare-for-All.
- Provide paid family leave.
- Legalize marijuana.
Photo credits: SM1_2314 / Collision Conf / Flickr / CC BY 2.0