WHY IT MATTERS: Issues at stake in presidential election
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY
"Your Majesty" isn't in the American political lexicon. But when a president sets a major policy by edict, skirting
President
MINIMUM WAGE
Modest income gains, strikes by fast-food workers, the rapid growth of low-paying jobs while middle-income work shrinks. These factors have combined to make the minimum wage a top economic issue for the 2016 campaign.
Millions would benefit from higher pay, of course. But an increase in the minimum wage would also boost costs for employers and may slow hiring.
Why the momentum for higher minimums? The typical household's income has fallen 2.4 percent since 1999. Low-paying industries, such as retail, fast food and home health care aides, are among the largest and fastest-growing. And many low-wage workers are older, have families and are probably more willing to demand higher pay.
WALL STREET REGULATION
The debate over rules governing banks and the markets comes down to this: how to prevent another economic catastrophe like the Great Recession ignited by the financial crisis in 2008. The worst upheaval since the 1930s Depression wiped out
The economic recovery over eight years has been halting and slow.
The goal behind the most radical overhaul of financial rules since the 1930s was to rein in high-risk practices on
INFRASTRUCTURE
The nation's infrastructure is in need of repair and improvement. On that, politicians generally agree. Harder to answer: How to pay for it and which projects take priority.
A reliable infrastructure system is important for the nation's economy, safety and quality of life.
Public health can be put at risk by poor infrastructure, such as the lead-tainted pipes that contaminated the water supply of
Poorly maintained highways and congested traffic also can raise the cost of shipping goods and the price consumers pay.
A recent report by the
Democrat
Last year's nuclear deal with
The accord curtailed
But the next
For
As secretary of state, Clinton helped lay the groundwork for the pact. She supports it, while taking a generally tougher tone on
Trump hates the deal. But he contends that he can renegotiate its terms.
Both are prepared to use force to prevent
REFUGEES
With millions of Syrians displaced by a years-long war and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing to
The fate of the program almost certainly hinges on the outcome of the November election.
CHILD
In much of the
Clinton wants a 12-week government-paid family and medical leave program, guaranteeing workers two-thirds of their wages up to a certain amount. Trump proposes six weeks of leave for new mothers, with the government paying wages equivalent to unemployment benefits. Both candidates propose tax relief for child care costs. Trump's plan provides for a new income tax deduction for child care expenses, other tax benefits and a new rebate or tax credit for low-income families. Clinton says no family should spend more than 10 percent of its income on child care and has called for child-care subsidies and tax relief offered on a sliding scale.
Clinton also favors forcing businesses to disclose gender pay data to the government for analysis. Trump says only that working moms should be "fairly compensated."
Women comprise about 57 percent of the labor force and many of them have young children. If they aren't getting paid enough to make ends meet, more families will seek out government aid programs or low-quality, unlicensed daycares for their children.
EDUCATION
Education is a core issue not just for students and families, but for communities, the economy, and the nation as a global competitor.
The country has some 50 million K-12 students. Teaching them, preparing them for college and careers, costs taxpayers more than
And while high school graduations are up sharply and dropout rates down, the nation has a ways to go to match the educational outcomes elsewhere. American schoolchildren trail their counterparts in
For students seeking higher education, they face rising college costs and many are saddled with debt.
STUDENT DEBT
More Americans are getting buried by student debt — causing delays in home ownership, limiting how much people can save and leaving taxpayers at risk as many loans go unpaid.
Student debt now totals around
More than 60 percent of the class of 2014 graduated with debt that averaged nearly
Democrat
IMMIGRATION
The future of millions of people living in the
Republican
Democrat
Illegal immigration has been at nearly 40-year lows for several years. It even appears that Mexican migration trends have reversed, with more Mexicans leaving the
Nonetheless the Mexican border remains a focal point for those who argue that the country is not secure.
CLIMATE CHANGE
It's as if
Measurements and scientists say Clinton's Earth is much closer to the warming reality. And it is worsening.
The world is on pace for the hottest year on record, breaking marks set in 2015, 2014, and 2010. It is about 1.8 degrees warmer than a century ago.
But it's more than temperatures. Scientists have connected man-made climate change to deadly heat waves, droughts and flood-inducing downpours.
Studies say climate change is raising sea levels, melting ice and killing coral. It's making people sicker with asthma and allergies and may eventually shrink our bank accounts.
ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
It's the Goldilocks conundrum of American politics: Is the government too big, too small or just right? Every four years, the presidential election offers a referendum on whether
At its heart, the debate about government's reach pits the desire to know your basic needs will be cared for against the desire to be left alone. For the last few decades, polls have found Americans generally feel frustrated by the federal government and think it's wasteful. A smaller government sounds good to a lot of people until they're asked what specific services or benefits they are willing to do without.
DEBT
The federal government is borrowing about one out of
Most economists say rising debt risks crowding out investment and forcing interest rates up, among other problems. At the same time, rapidly growing spending on federal health care programs like
It takes spending cuts, tax increases or both to dent the deficit. Lawmakers instead prefer higher spending and tax cuts.
Neither
Trump has promised massive tax cuts that would drive up the debt and he's shown little interest in curbing expensive benefit programs like
Clinton, by contrast, is proposing tax increases on the wealthy. But she wouldn't use the money to bring down the debt. Instead, she'd turn around and spend it on college tuition subsidies, infrastructure and health care.
TRADE
In this angry election year, many American voters are skeptical about free trade — or hostile to it.
The backlash threatens a pillar of
Economists say imports cut prices for consumers and make the
But unease has simmered, especially as American workers faced competition from low-wage Chinese labor. Last year, the
The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are both playing to public suspicions about trade deals.
But trade deals have far less impact on jobs than forces such as automation and wage differences between countries. Trump's plans to impose tariffs could start a trade war and raise prices.
The ideological direction of the
The court has been operating with eight justices since
The ninth justice will push the court left or right, depending on whether Democrat
Tensions have been rising over
Clinton says the
While many of
INCOME INEQUALITY
Income inequality has surged near levels last seen before the Great Depression. The average income for the top 1 percent of households climbed 7.7 percent last year to
Dogged on the issue during the primaries by
OPIOID EPIDEMIC
More than 28,000 Americans died from overdosing on opioids in 2014, a record high for the nation.
That's 78 people per day, a number that doesn't include the millions of family members, first responders and even taxpayers who feel the ripple of drug addiction in their daily lives.
A rise in prescription painkillers is partially to blame: The sale of these drugs has quadrupled since 1999, and so has the number of Americans dying from an addiction to them. When prescriptions run out, people find themselves turning to the cheaper alternative heroin and, increasingly, the even more deadly drug fentanyl.
Recovering addicts and their family members are increasingly speaking out, putting a face on drug addiction and lessening the stigma surrounding it. But dollars for prevention, treatment and recovery services are still hard to come by, leaving many people waiting weeks or months to find the treatment they're seeking. Meantime, family members empty bank accounts in search of help, while law enforcement officers and emergency rooms serve as a first line of defense.
Pariah state
Diplomacy and economic sanctions have not worked so far.
Republican presidential candidate
Democrat
But it will be tough to force
HEALTH
About 9 in 10 Americans now have health insurance, more than at any time in history. But progress is incomplete, and the future far from certain. Rising costs could bedevil the next occupant of the
Millions of people previously shut out have been covered by President
Whether Americans would be better off trading for a
Overall health care spending is trending higher again, and prices for prescription drugs — new and old — are a major worry.
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
How the
It can mean taking the country to war — to protect the homeland or to defend an ally. Or it can mean using diplomacy to prevent war. It can affect
In the contest between
These divergent views could mean very different approaches to the military fight and ideological struggle against the
VOTING RIGHTS
Voting rights in America are in flux. Republican-controlled legislatures are tightening voter laws, placing limits on early voting and same-day registration, and imposing new requirements for IDs at polling places. In 2013, the
The issue has become highly partisan with the rapid growth of minority populations, which in recent presidential elections have tilted heavily Democratic.
This story is part of AP's "Why It Matters" series, which will examine three dozen issues at stake in the presidential election between now and
EDITOR'S NOTE _ A look at issues at stake in the election and their impact on people
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