Donald Trump is the candidate for the Republican Party (GOP), and Hillary Clinton is the nominee for the Democratic Party (DNC).  Mike Pence and Tim Kaine are the running mates, respectively.  Donald Trump’s campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again!”, and sometimes uses different variations such as, “Make America Strong Again!”, “Make America Rich Again!”, or “America First.”  Hillary Clinton’s campaign has used numerous slogans, such as “Stronger Together”, “I’m With Her”, and “Love trumps hate”.  Hillary Clinton has raised a large amount of money by Super-PACs and citizens, with a whopping total of 687.1 million US dollars.  Donald Trump has raised less money than Clinton, with a total of 247.5 million US dollars. There are also third party candidates.  The top two third party candidates are Gary Johnson and Bill Weld from the Libertarian Party (LP), and Jill Stein and Ajamu Bakara from the Green Party.  They have a very small amount of donated money, with Gary Johnson in third with 8.0 million US dollars and Jill Stein in fourth with 3.1 million.

Hillary Clinton is ahead in most polls with a 1.7 point lead.  Donald Trump is ahead in some battleground states, with a 0.7 lead in Florida, a 3.3 lead in Ohio, 3.0 lead in Arizona, 1.4 lead in Iowa, tied in North Carolina, 5.7 lead in Georgia, and a 2.0 lead in Nevada.  Hillary Clinton is leading in Colorado, Virginia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Many other states are swing states and are too close to call.

 Both candidates have different ideas for America.  For immigration, Donald Trump wants to build a border wall and wants extreme vetting of refugees.  He also wants to make sure that nobody overstays their visas.  Hillary Clinton wants comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to full and equal citizenship.  According to WikiLeaks, in Hillary Clinton’s private speeches to Goldman Sachs, she wants open borders and open trade. For trade, Donald Trump wants to negotiate fair trade deals that create American jobs, increase American wages, and reduce America’s trade deficit.  He also wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and called it the worst trade deal in history. Trump also wants to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  Clinton called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) the “gold standard”, and she is okay with free trade.

For guns, Clinton wants to increase gun control and make sure that there are many background checks when you go to purchase a gun.  Trump wants everybody to be able to buy a gun easily, and has the support of the National Rifle Association (NRA). For national defense and security, Trump wants to build up the military, invest in a missile defense system, emphasize cyber warfare, and pay for the necessary rebuilding of our national defense.  Clinton wants to stick with our NATO allies, ensure we are stronger at home, stand up to Vladimir Putin, hold China accountable, and have a plan for confronting terrorists. For healthcare, Trump wants to repeal and replace Obamacare with Health Savings Accounts, work with Congress to create a patient-centered health care system that promotes choice, quality, and affordability. Clinton wants to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, defend and expand the Affordable Care Act, protect consumers from unjustified prescription drug price increases from companies that market long-standing, life-saving treatments and face little or no competition.  She also supports Obamacare.

There is a lot of controversy over this presidential election and it is extremely important to the growth of America. Who do you think will win? Who do you want to win? Well, we’ll find out soon enough.