Immigration

Trump has made it clear that if he is president, he will build a wall between the US and Mexico (and Mexico's going to pay for, too). Trump took his immigration plan one step further by proposing a plan to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in America — which most experts agree is not only impossible based on historical precedent [5], but also unconstitutional. Trump would also end birthright citizenship — meaning the children of undocumented immigrants who are born in the US would no longer be citizens; this policy would require a constitutional amendment since all those born on American soil are considered citizens.

Clinton's positions could not be more opposite to Trump's. She supports President Barack Obama's proposed deportation relief under the DREAM act [6], and she would expand upon it by creating pathways for undocumented immigrants to become citizens. The goal of Clinton's immigration reform is to keep families together regardless of legal status and she has also vowed to close private detention centers.

Women's Rights

Here's where Clinton and Trump share a sliver of common ground. While Donald Trump [7] only supports abortion in cases of rape, incest, and where the mother's life is endangered, he has also expressed support for funding Planned Parenthood as long as they are not performing abortions. In a recent interview with Meet the Press [8], Trump said that Planned Parenthood "does some very good work" at combating women's health issues like cervical cancer. His view differs vastly from the remaining candidates and the majority of the Republican party, who would completely defund Planned Parenthood (they have already attempted to defund it [9]). He also believes more companies should provide on-site child care, he said at a rally in Iowa [10].

Clinton, in line with the Democratic party, supports a woman's right to choose, and she has been a longtime champion of women's rights. Trump and Clinton both agree on equal pay for women [11] who do the same job as their male counterparts, and Clinton would also fight for federally mandated maternity and paternity leave. Clinton has also called for universal preschool for every American child [12] and says she would provide federal funding for states that don't already have a program in place.

Gun Control

Trump is a strong proponent of the protecting the Second Amendment. He has a concealed weapons permit and he suggested that the key to solving America's issue with gun violence [13] is arming more law-abiding citizens; he went as far to say that arming teachers could prevent mass school shootings. After Obama signed a historic executive measure [14] to limit gun violence, Trump vowed to repeal it [15].

Clinton stands on the other end of the spectrum. She would strengthen background checks and ensure the gun show purchasing loophole was closed. The gun show loophole essentially allows vendors selling firearms at conventions to bypass background checks [16]. Comparatively, Trump would reinforce the existing background check protocols, meaning he would not strengthen [17] existing gun laws. However, both candidates agree that improving our mental health care system [18] is vital to preventing more mass shootings [19].

Climate Change

Trump doesn't just believe climate change is a farce; he once tweeted [20] that the Chinese had orchestrated it as a way to hinder America's economic success. He has since backtracked and insisted this was a joke [21]. Trump is, however, still a climate change denier [22]. Given his beliefs, Trump has not offered any policy changes to curtail the apparent effects of global warming.

Clinton's position starkly opposes Trump's. As president, Clinton would set goals to install solar panels in American homes and fight to curtail greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent. Unlike Trump, Clinton agrees with most experts' opinion that climate change is the defining issue of the 21 century — if no action is taken, the world's future is in jeopardy.

Same-Sex Marriage

Trump vocally opposes [23] the legalization of same-sex marriage and believes it should be a state's rights issue. More recently in an interview with Fox News Sunday [24], Trump indicated he would only nominate Supreme Court justices who would be inclined to overturn the ruling.

Despite flip-flopping on the issue until 2013 [25], Clinton now defends the same-sex marriage ruling. Unlike her 2008 platform [26], which called for gay couples to have civil unions, Clinton's position has evolved to support marriage.

Economy

Both Trump and Clinton recognize the need to combat income inequality and fix unemployment in the United States. Their plans to resolve these issues are different, though.

Trump's strategy begins by imposing importation tariffs on China and Mexico (some experts say this policy would ultimately hinder [27] the American economy because of the trade war it would ignite). Trump argues that by limiting the amount we import from China and Mexico, there would be more opportunities for American employment in manufacturing. He would also keep the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour. Trump's tax plan would give relief to families earning between $25,000 and $50,000 a year (they would not owe taxes); he would simplify the tax brackets to four instead of the current seven [28]. Here's how Trump's proposed tax brackets would be broken down: individuals earning below $25,000 would not owe federal taxes, those earning $25,001 to $50,000 would owe 10 percent, those earning $50,001 to $150,000 would owe 20 percent, and those earning above $150,000 would owe 25 percent in federal income tax. He would also cap business taxes at a total of 15 percent of revenue to encourage more job growth. Some analysis suggests that Trump's plan would cut the government's revenue by 22 percent [29] and increase the deficit by $9.5 million over the next decade.

Clinton's plan also proposes a tax cut for the middle class and relief for small businesses. If your income is over $5 million, Clinton's plan would tax that by four percent — basically, her reform is aimed at taxing the wealthy [30] one percent. Clinton claims her proposed tax policy would raise $500 billion in revenue. Unlike Trump, she would close corporate tax loopholes that allow corporations to avoid taxes. She also believes that investing in clean energy, infrastructure improvement, and research are keys to strengthening the economy as well as adding jobs. What's more, Clinton would create a national bank that would endow the desparately needed infastructure repairs [31] across the country and simultaneously add jobs through these projects.

Criminal Justice Reform

By implying that people crossing the border from Mexico are all "rapists" and "criminals," [32] Trump has conflated the connection between immigration with criminal behavior and spread the idea that we need to lock up more people. Even though an overhaul to mandatory minimum sentences and the prison system has received bipartisan support [33], experts contend that Trump's explosive rhetoric will hinder these advances [34] because crime appears more prevalant than it actually is. Trump has not provided his plan for criminal justice reform.

On the other hand, the end of mass incarceration is of foremost importance to Clinton. This means continued efforts to decrease the mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, the closing of private prisons, and establishing better programs for former inmates to reenter society. She also supports the use of body cameras to promote more transparency between the public and police force.

Foreign Policy

Trump has made unimaginable foreign policy comments for a leading Republican presidential candidate. First, he offended immigrants by equating them to criminals and then he called for a ban on Muslims entering the country. His plan for defeating ISIS is no more logical: he would bomb ISIS-controlled territory and cut off their oil supply (by bombing Iraq). The trouble with this proposal is that most of the oil fields controlled by ISIS are, in fact, in Syria [35] and he has not indicated he would approve military action in that region. At a campaign rally in early January, Trump attacked Clinton [36] and Obama for creating ISIS through their ineffective policies in the region.

Clinton is easily the most experienced presidential candidate when it comes to foreign policy, since she served as secretary of state under Obama for four years. Her strategy to defeat ISIS is considered hawkish by experts [37], but is more defined than Trump's. Calling for a no-fly zone over Syria, deployment of special forces to Syria, and more monitoring of social media that is used to recruit fundamentalists, Clinton's plan is also more aggressive than Obama's [38].

With Super Tuesday quickly approaching (in which several states cast their votes for the nomination), we'll soon have a better idea if this Clinton/Trump race is the one to watch.