Voting Behavior in the 2016 Election

An instructional resources project sponsored by the APSA, ICPSR, and SETUPS.

Campaign Issues and Candidate Positions

Clinton and Trump disagreed on a wide range of issues and concerns about government. In many cases, their differences reflected typical differences between Democrats and Republicans, but Trump took some positions that were not usually supported by Republicans. Furthermore, Trump was sometimes vague and sometimes contradictory about where he stood, leading to uncertainty about what his policy positions truly were. The issues that received substantial attention during the campaign included the following:

Economy

Trump argued that U.S. trade policies had resulted in the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs, due to cheap imports from other countries, such as China. He promised to renegotiate those trade agreements and bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. His opposition to international trade put him at odds with most other Republicans, who generally supported free trade. Clinton took a more nuanced position on trade policy, supporting NAFTA but opposing the Trans Pacific Partnership, for example. Trump also favored reducing government regulations on business, which he claimed stifled the economy; Clinton did not favor significant deregulation. After being ambiguous about his position on increasing the federal minimum wage, Trump eventually favored increasing it to $10 per hour; Clinton favored a greater increase, to $12 per hour.

Health care

Trump attacked Obamcare as a failure, said it should be repealed, and promised to replace it with something that was much better, but he was vague about what that new policy would look like. Clinton supported keeping Obamacare, which she said was working much better than Trump claimed, although she favored making changes to improve the law.

Immigration

Trump made immigration policy a central issue in his campaign. He promised to build a wall on the Mexican border and make Mexico pay for it, to deport many of the immigrants living in the country illegally, and to put extra restrictions on Muslims attempting to enter the country. Clinton opposed Trump's immigration proposals. Instead, she favored reforming immigration policy to allow many of those who were living here illegally to remain and to possibly have a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

Taxes

Trump proposed substantial tax cuts, with much of the benefit going to wealthier individuals. Included in his proposal were a lower tax rate for businesses and the elimination of the estate tax. Clinton favored increasing taxes on the wealthy, including increasing the estate tax and the capital gains tax; she also promised a middle-class tax reduction, but was vague about the details.

Infrastructure spending

Trump favored increased spending on infrastructure, and he proposed a trillion dollar program, but he suggested that much of the spending would come from private sources. Clinton also favored increased spending on infrastructure, although she did not propose spending a trillion dollars. Neither candidate supported increasing the federal gas tax, which currently pays for much of federal infrastructure spending.

Energy and the environment

Trump supported fewer restrictions and regulations to protect the environment, arguing that they hurt the economy. He wanted to allow offshore drilling for oil and gas and to allow the construction of the Keystone pipeline—a long-delayed oil pipeline project that would carry Canadian oil through much of the American Midwest. Clinton opposed both positions. Trump also criticized Clinton for supporting environmental regulations that hurt the coal industry. Finally, Trump wanted the U.S. to exit the Paris climate accord, whereas Clinton wanted the U.S. to remain in the accord.

Social issues

Clinton favored keeping abortion legal and allowing same-sex marriage. Trump wanted to allow abortion only in cases of rape, incest, and where the life of the mother was in danger; he did not favor same-sex marriage, but he supported many gay rights issues. Trump's positions on some of these social issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, seemed to differ from his past positions, leading some social conservatives to question his commitment to these issues.

Foreign affairs and national security

Trump supported a significant increase in military spending, which Clinton did not. Trump also put more emphasis on combating terrorism, including imposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, which Clinton opposed.

Trump displayed little commitment to NATO, claiming that the U.S. was paying too great of a share of the costs of defending Europe. His position on this issue, and his general skepticism over U.S. foreign commitments, put him at odds with other Republicans, who supported a strong world leadership role for the U.S. In this regard, Clinton agreed with most Republicans more than did Trump.

Additional information on the positions of the candidates on the issues:

The platforms: