Trump vs Clinton on nine key issues for America
- Nov 8, 2016
- 8 min read

Economy
We're in a bubble right now. And the only thing that looks good is the stock market, but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that's going to come crashing down. We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble.
Donald Trump
Trump: "Our jobs are fleeing the country. They're going to Mexico. They're going to many other countries. You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product. They're devaluing the currency, and there's nobody in our government to fight them. Because they're using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China, and many other countries are doing the same thing." (Sep, 2016)
Video:'Not just for those at the top': Trump and Clinton on economy
"Under my plan, I'll be reducing taxes tremendously, from 35% to 15% for companies, small and big businesses. That's going to be a job creator like we haven't seen since Ronald Reagan. It's going to be a beautiful thing to watch." (Sep, 2016)
Clinton: "We have to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. That means we need new jobs, good jobs, with rising incomes. I want us to invest in you and your future. That means jobs in infrastructure, in advanced manufacturing, innovation and technology, clean, renewable energy and small businesses, because most of the new jobs will come from small business." (Sep, 2016)
Foreign Policy
Trump: "I want to help all of our allies, but we are losing billions and billions of dollars. We cannot be the policemen of the world. We cannot protect countries all over the world where they're not paying us what we need."
Video:'We can't be world's policeman': Trump and Clinton on foreign policy
"You have so many countries already - China, Pakistan, Russia - you have so many countries right now that have them. Now, wouldn't you rather, in a certain sense, have Japan have nuclear weapons when North Korea has nuclear weapons?" (Apr, 2016)
Clinton: "Words matter when you run for president. And they really matter when you are president. And I want to reassure our allies in Japan and South Korea and elsewhere that we have mutual defence treaties and we will honour them. It is essential that America's word be good. And so I know that this campaign has caused some questioning and worries on the part of many leaders across the globe." (Sep, 2016)
The United States must work with Europe to dramatically and immediately improve intelligence sharing and counterterrorism co-ordination.
Hillary Clinton
"It has been the policy of the US to do everything we could to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons. His (Donald Trump's) cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons is deeply troubling. That is the number one threat we face. It becomes particularly threatening if terrorists ever get their hands on any nuclear material. A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes." (Sep, 2016)
Gun Control
Trump: "I am a second amendment person. If we had guns in California (San Bernardino shooting) on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no (to limits on guns)." (Jan, 2016)
"We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into look at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on." (Jan, 2016)
"The gun-free zones are target practice for the sickos and for the mentally ill. They look for gun-free zones... I think gun-free zones are a catastrophe. They're a feeding frenzy for sick people." (Oct, 2015)
Guns, in and of themselves, will not make America safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism.
Hillary Clinton
Clinton: "We have to bring communities together in order to begin working on criminal justice reform as a mutual goal. And we've got to get guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. The gun epidemic is the leading cause of death of young African-American men. We have to make sure the police respect the communities and the communities respect them. And we have to tackle the plague of gun violence, which is a big contributor to a lot of the problems that we're seeing today." (Sep, 2016)
Health
Trump: "The one thing we have to do is repeal and replace Obamacare. It is a disaster. People's premiums are going up 35%, 45%, 55%. Their deductibles are so high nobody's ever going to get to use it. So Obamacare is turning out to be a bigger disaster than anybody thought." (Oct, 2015)
Clinton: "We share the goal of universal health care coverage. But I think the people deserve to know how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act is based on the insurance system. So if you're having single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process. Based on every analysis I can find, the numbers don't add up, and many people will be worse off than they are now." (Feb, 2016)
Homeland Security
In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians... Not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.
Donald Trump
Trump: "I don't want to be so politically correct. I like to solve problems. We have a serious, serious problem of hate. There is tremendous hate. Where large portions of a group of people, Islam, large portions want to use very, very harsh means." (Mar, 2016)
"Guantanamo Bay - which by the way, we are keeping open! And we're going to load it up with some bad dudes. We're going to load it up." (Feb, 2016)
Clinton: "This is a humanitarian catastrophe (Syria crisis). The US has to support our allies in Europe. We have to provide financial support. We have to provide the NATO support to back up the mission that is going on. And we have to take properly vetted refugees ourselves." (Feb, 2016)
"After 9/11, one of the efforts we did in New York was if you see or hear something suspicious, report it. We need to do that throughout the country. We need to understand that American Muslims are on the front line of our defence. They are more likely to know what's happening in their communities, and they need to be welcomed in American society. When somebody like Donald Trump stirs up the demagoguery against American Muslims, that hurts us at home. It's not only offensive, it's dangerous." (Feb, 2016)
Immigration
Trump: "I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall." (June, 2015)
Video:Trump and Clinton on immigration and 'the wall'
On Syrian refugees: "What I won't do is take in 200,000 Syrians who could be ISIS. I have been watching this migration. They're mostly men, and they're strong men. They look like prime-time soldiers. Now it's probably not true, but where are the women? Two hundred thousand people? This could be the greatest Trojan horse. This could make the Trojan horse look like peanuts if these people turned out to be a lot of ISIS." (Oct, 2015)
They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists - Donald Trump
On his comments about banning Muslims from entering the US: "Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Center, with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. We have to find out what's going on (with Muslim immigrants). I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently... We have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country anymore. We're laughed at all over the world." (Jan, 2016)
Clinton: "I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and the south has basically zeroed out." (Nov, 2015)
"We need to end private detention, we need to end family detention." (Mar, 2016)
Religion
Trump: "I think people are shocked when they find out that I am a Christian, that I am a religious person. They see me with all the surroundings of wealth so they sometimes don't associate that with being religious. That's not accurate. I go to church, I love God, and I love having a relationship with him." (Nov, 2015)
Because it's very hard to imagine living under that kind of pressure without being able to fall back on prayer and on my faith.
Hillary Clinton
Clinton: "I have said many times that I am a praying person, and if I haven't been during the time I was in the White House, I would have become one. Because it's very hard to imagine living under that kind of pressure without being able to fall back on prayer and on my faith." (Mar, 2016)
Same-Sex Marriage
Video:Trump and Clinton on LGBT rights
Trump: "Some people have hopes of passing amendments (to same-sex marriage ruling by Supreme Court), but it's not going to happen. Congress can't pass simple things, let alone that. So anybody that's making that an issue is doing it for political reasons. The Supreme Court ruled on it." (Aug, 2015)
Clinton: "Every loving couple & family deserves to be recognised & treated equally under the law across our nation. #LoveMustWin #LoveCantWait." (Apr, 2015, via Twitter)
Abortion
Trump: "As far as Planned Parenthood is concerned, I'm pro-life. I'm totally against abortion, having to do with Planned Parenthood. But millions of millions of women - cervical cancer, breast cancer - are helped by Planned Parenthood. So you can say whatever you want, but they have millions of women going through Planned Parenthood that are helped greatly. And I wouldn't fund it. I would defund it because of the abortion factor, which they say is 3%." (Feb, 2016)
Clinton: "You know, it's always the Republicans or their sympathisers who say, 'You can't have paid leave, you can't provide healthcare'. They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. We can do these things. We should not be paralysed by the Republicans and their constant refrain 'big government this, big government that', that except for what they want to impose on the American people. I know we can afford it, because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it." (Oct, 2015)