Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are two of the most talked about politicians of the decade. Each of them are both supported and hated by many, with extremist views towards opposite sides. The two share a sharp contrast in political opinion. The mere idea of debate between Trump and Bernie has turned into a real life comedy act that toured worldwide. From healthcare to gun control to taxes, Bernie and Trump are on opposite sides of the debate. Bernie Sanders can be described as a progressive liberal and Donald Trump as a very conservative rightist. Each of these politicians appeal to extremely different voters on opposite ends of the spectrum. Although Bernie dropped out of the 2020 presidential election, his policies and supporters are relevant to the face of politics.
This article will be analyzing the differences between Bernie and Trump on healthcare policy, defense spending, trade policy and equal rights policies.
Healthcare
Bernie Sanders is a strong advocate of Medicare For All. He proposes a “single-payer, national health insurance program to provide everyone in America with comprehensive health care coverage, free at the point of service,” that will eventually be expanded to all categories of care including dental and vision. Bernie believes that private insurers are ripping off the American people and neglecting to care for the millions of people who are unable to afford insurance. Bernie sees health care as a human right and urges America to follow other major countries by guaranteeing health care to all.
Donald Trump views health care in stark contrast to Bernie. Trump believes it is important that Americans can choose their own private health care. As president, one of his priorities was to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Trump argues that Bernie’s Medicare for all would look vastly different from the current Medicare program. Trump says that Bernie’s plan is just a way “to raid Medicare to fund a thing called Socialism”. He goes on to say that “the Democrat plans for socialized medicine will not just put doctors and hospitals out of business, they will also deny your treatment and everything that you need.” Trump’s opinion on Universal Health Care has shifted over the years. While running for president in the 2016 election he stated in his 60 minutes interview that “Everybody’s got to be covered… I am going to take care of everybody.” Now, he is a strong proponent of what it seems to be a private/hybrid option with Obamacare.
Trade Policy
One of the policies that Trump and Sanders have similar stances on is free trade. Both have the goal of protecting American workers. Trump has placed tariffs on imports, especially those from China, in order to help production in the U.S. and better balance the trade deficit. He supports free trade domestically, but not internationally. Similarly, Sanders also wants to protect American workers and criticized international free trade agreements like NAFTA. Instead, his goal is stimulating the American market and avoiding entering trade agreements that result in the U.S. being taken advantage of. Sanders wants to end the outsourcing of American jobs and support American workers by raising wages and increasing domestic production. Trump agrees that previous trade deals have not been beneficial to American workers and focusing on bringing jobs and entire companies back from overseas. He is standing up for their rights and knows that future trade deals must put the American people first.
Tax Policy
Trump has maintained the standard progressive tax rate in his newest plan. Bernie is an advocate for a progressive tax system. Although both Trump and Sanders support a progressive tax rate, they have opposing opinions on lowering taxes in general. Trump believes that taxes should be lowered, including for big corporations which creates more jobs and has facilitated companies repatriating back to America, giving money back to the middle and lower classes. Bernie on the other hand believes that taxes should be increased for the upper class in order to lessen the burden on the middle and lower class and provide adequate tax revenue to the federal government spending obligations. He also advocates for increased taxes on corporations, capital gains and incomes over $10 million.
Bernie’s tax proposal includes increasing the income brackets for taxes so that the highest earners are taxed significantly more. While Trump’s plan does include a progressive tax, the tax percentages are much smaller and there are far fewer income brackets. Therefore, the upper class is taxed substantially more with Bernie’s plan than Trump’s.
Criminal Justice
Bernie Sanders advocates for criminal justice reform. He wants to decrease the amount of incarcerated people, ban for-profit prisons and ensure prisoners have rights. Sanders wants to invest in the community rather than the prison by helping prisoners transition back to society after their release, reversing criminalization of communities and holding law enforcement accountable.
Trump also presents himself as an advocate for criminal justice reform. He has provided more jobs for those who have been previously incarcerated, which allows them to get a fresh start at life. He signed the First Step Act in 2018 which makes the U.S. justice system fairer and helps return prisoners to their life before incarceration. By doing this, it provides past inmates the opportunity to succeed in the workplace and in life as well as stay out of future crime. He has also promoted second chance hiring, which helps the First Step Act by encouraging the inmates to live crime-free lifestyles and find work.
Trump also maintains a pro-police stance which has conflicted with the defund the police movement which Bernie has supported.
Both Bernie and Trump are criminal justice reformers with the goal of making the justice system fairer for all. Bernie would do this by eliminating profit coming from prisons as well as cut the prison population in half, and both promote rehabilitation techniques for returning inmates to society.
Defense Spending
Trump and Bernie also have harshly different opinions on defense spending. Throughout his presidency, Trump has increased national security spending. He is also a supporter of the war on terrorism, calling it a priority. Bernie on the other hand has stated that he would cut military spending and is against the War on Terrorism. Bernie would make it a priority to withdraw troops from the Middle East. In an interview with Vox, he admits it would be difficult to make the military budget changes that he supports. Instead, he proposes “a thoughtful budget that meets the defense needs of this country without simply supplying billions of dollars of unnecessary money to the military-industrial complex” (Vox).
Contrarily, Trump has continued to increase this military budget. In 2019, he approved the defense bill that authorized defense spending to be up to $738 billion for 2020, with $71.5 billion specifically for war. Additionally, since Trump has been on office, there has been an expansion of U.S. counter-terrorism operations in efforts to expand national security (BBC news).
Equal Rights
Yet again, the sharp contrast in opinion is visible between Bernie and Trump in the equal rights debate. Bernie is a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights and equal rights policies, whereas Trump has both shown support and attacked the community.
Throughout his presidency, Trump has targeted the Transgender community by banning transgender military service (unless they serve in their original sex) and rolling back the mandate that healthcare is a civil right for transgender people. On the contrary, Trump has said that he stands with the LGBTQ community and has hired them for government positions. Trump also launched a campaign to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide. It is also important to note that during pride month, Trump was silent and did not show support for the community.
2020 brought the Equal Rights Amendment back to center stage. There has been a major push to add the ERA as the 28th amendment to the constitution. The attorney generals of Virginia, Illinois and Nevada filed a federal lawsuit forcing the administration to complete the ERA. The Trump administration proceeded to ask the federal court to throw out this lawsuit (CNN). Trump has not made any advancements to guarantee equality for women during his presidency. Bernie on the other hand believes that “gender equality should be guaranteed by the constitution” (Feel the Bern).
In addition, Bernie is also a strong supporter of gay rights. He has consistently voted for legislation to ban discrimination and support the LGBTQ+ community. Trump however has limited their rights.
Religious Freedom
Sanders is supportive of religious freedom unless it is placed above individual rights. He has shown this support by advocating for the Restoration Act of 1993 as a senator. Bernie believes in the right to congregate, express and practice religion. In order to achieve this, he supports the separation of church and state. He does not believe that the religious freedom of the first amendment includes the right to discriminate against others.
Trump also supports religious freedom. He stated, “Our Founders understood that no right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s religious convictions.” However, he does not support the separation of church and state. He and his administration worked to ensure students’ right to pray and practice religion in school. This includes integrating religion into public schools.
Student Loans and Tuition
Trump has supported placing a cap on the amount of student loans that a family can take out for higher education. He also supports limiting the amount of repayment options to two and simplifying the process altogether. However, his 2021 budget proposal will deepen the amount of student debt in the U.S. The plan cuts financial aid spending which would greatly hurt the lower class.
Bernie proposes free college and university tuition. He also wants to eliminate all student debt. He states that the young population is encouraged to get good jobs, but that this requires a good education. He also wants to expand Pell Grants and work-study programs.
Voter Population
It is also important to examine the voter demographics for both Trump and Bernie. With both politicians holding very different political views, the demographics of their voters differ. In the 2016 election, Trump voters consisted of republicans in suburban and rural areas. Additionally, the majority of white women voted for trump. Trump supporters tend to be older, with his strongest support coming from those ages 50 and up. Trump’s conservative values align with the values of the older generations. This can be seen in the graphic below showing the voters of the 2016 election separated by age.
Bernie on the other hand gains the most support from young voters. Voters ages 18-29 were most likely to vote for Bernie, with the 30-44 year old age group also showing support. This young support was not enough to win him the democratic nomination, as the youth voter population is not large enough to give him the majority vote. Bernie appeals to the youth with his call for sharp change towards socialism including Medicare for All, increasing the tax rate significantly, free college tuition. Older voters on the other hand believe these changes would be too radical and are looking for a more moderate solution.
For the 2020 election, many voters feel like they are participating in a broken voting system. For a large portion of the voting population, they are voting for a candidate who is not ideal to them. With the election coming down to Trump and Biden, Bernie supporters are left with voting for Biden if they chose to remain in party lines. For others, they are against Biden’s policies and feel forced to vote for Trump. With the two party system, voters are often left unsatisfied with the candidates.