Comparing where Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stand on key policy positions

Kamala Harris supports legal access to abortion. She has strongly rejected efforts to limit abortion access and wants Congress to pass a national law codifying the right to abortion. Harris has said she wants to restore Roe v. Wade, which protects abortion up until the time of fetal viability, or about 22 weeks. Harris has been a leading voice on reproductive rights as vice president and co-sponsored 2017 legislation as a senator that would have prohibited states from imposing restrictions on abortion. Read more

Donald Trump has called himself the most "pro-life president" in history, though his stance has changed considerably over the years. Broadly, he has said that abortion policy should be left to the states, though he has suggested he might use his presidential power to limit access to mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions. He has said he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy is life-threatening.  Read more

Kamala Harris agrees that climate change is caused by human activity and is an existential threat that the U.S. must urgently address. As vice president, she was the tiebreaking vote to pass legislation that aims to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this decade and represents the largest infusion of government cash into climate and clean-energy initiatives. As vice president, she announced more than $1 billion in grants for states to address flooding and extreme heat exacerbated by climate change. She has advocated for a blend of government action and market forces to combat global warming, and has been a proponent of electric vehicles. Read more

Donald Trump has said that human activity is only one cause of climate change and that he doesn’t believe climate change is making extreme weather events worse. He favors market solutions over regulation, and he does not support clean-energy tax credits. He has said he would cancel programs such as electric vehicle subsidies. Read more

Kamala Harris voted for the First Step Act and has said more criminal justice reform is needed. She supports the federal decriminalization of marijuana. She has long supported red-flag laws that restrict gun ownership for people who might harm themselves or others, as well as background checks and restrictions that would prevent concealed carry in schools. She supports allowing gun manufacturers to be sued in court. She owns a gun.  Read more

Donald Trump supports the First Step Act. His position on marijuana legalization is unclear. He opposes restricting access to guns for people who might harm themselves or others, as well as background checks or restrictions that would prevent concealed carry in schools. He opposes allowing gun manufacturers to be sued in court. He owns guns.  Read more

Kamala Harris has said she wants to strengthen Social Security and Medicare. She supports reinstating the payroll tax for incomes over $400,000 and lowering drug prices for Medicare recipients. Harris supports raising taxes for corporations and high earners, a modest rise on capital gains tax, tax breaks for small businesses and expanding the child tax credit. Harris backs the Biden administration's student debt forgiveneness policies. She says she plans to increase defense spending. She supports the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. Her stance on the use of investment funds that prioritize social and environmental responsibility is not known. Read more

As president, Donald Trump lowered the tax rate for the richest Americans and corporations and opposed cuts to mandatory entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. He is against slashing defense spending. Read more

Kamala Harris supports student loan debt forgiveness. She opposes book bans and restrictions that limit how schools can teach about systemic racism, LGBTQ+ issues and sexuality. She opposes laws denying transgender people access to bathrooms that match their gender identities and school policies that discriminate based on gender identity. She has not specified a position on gender-affirming care, but the Biden-Harris administration has opposed efforts by states to ban such care, and has supported federal efforts to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Harris has two step-children, and frequently speaks about her own childhood as a public-school student. Read more

Donald Trump has opposed canceling student loan debt, but he backs income-based repayment plans. He opposes teaching students about systemic racism. He favors schools teaching only traditional gender roles. He opposes allowing transgender students to use bathrooms or play sports on teams that correspond with their identified gender. It’s unclear whether he would allow states to ban gender-affirming care, but he opposes access to this treatment for youth. His children went to private schools. Read more

Kamala Harris voted to certify the election results in 2020. As president of the Senate, she will preside over the election certification process in Congress whether she wins or loses the election. She has said she is committed to free and fair elections and to the peaceful transfer of power. She has condemned the events on January 6, 2021, as an attempt to overturn the election results. Read more

Donald Trump does not recognize Joe Biden as the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, and he has not committed to accepting the certified results of the 2024 election. He has said he would consider pardoning at least some of the people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Read more

Kamala Harris has not indicated which country she believes represents the biggest threat to the U.S.; however, the Biden-Harris administration has previously spoken about China as a leading national security threat. Harris has said the U.S. will stand by Ukraine. She has also previously said that the U.S. would honor its obligations to Taiwan in standing up to China. Her specific policy on Israel is not clear: She has said that the U.S. will continue to support Israel's ability to defend itself but has also called out the suffering of the Palestinian people. Read more

Donald Trump has said that U.S. politicians, not foreign powers, are the country’s greatest threat. He has said that support of Ukraine should be conditional on the country’s investigation of the Biden family. His position on defending Taiwan is unclear.  Read more

Kamala Harris says she wants to revive the tough border compromise law that Congress was unable to pass in 2024, which would close loopholes in the asylum process, give the president greater authority to shut down the border and limit parole of migrants. Harris supports an earned pathway to citizenship. She has previously said that family separation policies are an abuse of human rights. Her stance on the number of asylum seekers the U.S. should admit is not clear. Read more

Donald Trump has said he would conduct mass deportations of undocumented immigrants by detaining them in large migrant camps, as well as end birthright citizenship. He said he may restore family separations at the border. As president, Trump intends to suspend the U.S. refugee program and bar travel from Muslim-majority countries, as well as reinstate the Title 42 border policy that refused entry to asylum seekers (this time on the basis of infectious diseases like tuberculosis). Read more