Campaign themes and
Harris campaigned in 17 states, excluding their home states, from August to November in the 2024 United States presidential election.
Harris campaign Harris framed her campaign as "a choice between freedom and chaos" and based it around the ideals of "freedom" and "the future". The Harris campaign sought to highlight her experience as an attorney general and a prosecutor to "prosecute the case" against Trump by pointing out his 34 felony convictions and the impacts of the overturning of
Roe v. Wade. Harris had taken liberal positions on a number of issues in her bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination; in 2024, she shifted several of those positions toward the political center and embraced many of Biden's domestic policy stances. Harris focused her economic proposals on the cost of
groceries,
housing and
healthcare.
Trump campaign A central campaign theme for Trump's second presidential bid was "retribution". Trump framed the 2024 election as "the final battle", and openly promised to leverage the power of the presidency for
political reprisals. Trump heavily ran on immigration as a central campaign focus. Trump's campaign focused on dark and apocalyptic rhetoric about the state of the country and predicting doom if he did not win. The
Associated Press stated that "Trump's rallies take on the symbols, rhetoric and agenda of
Christian nationalism." During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump made numerous
false and misleading statements. Trump has been described as using the "
big lie" and
firehose of falsehood propaganda techniques.
Abortion protesters in
Washington, D.C. in May 2022, as part of the Bans Off Our Bodies protest following the
leaked draft opinion overturning
Roe v. Wade in Washington, D.C.
Abortion access was a key topic during the campaign; Abortion was a key issue for many voters in the
2022 elections. The issue continued to motivate voters in 2024 along with "the future of democracy in this country" and "high prices for gas, groceries and other goods." According to AP VoteCast, 25% of voters ranked abortion policy as the single most important factor in their vote, similar to the share who in 2022 said that the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade was important to their vote. Of the states where abortion was on the ballot, measures seeking to expand or protect abortion access failed in Florida, South Dakota and Nebraska. Some pundits argued abortion rights referendums could help Harris in November. Democrats predominantly advocate for
abortion access as a right, while Republicans generally favor significantly
restricting the legality of abortion. Since becoming the presumptive nominee, Harris indicated her support for passing legislation which would restore the federal abortion right protections previously guaranteed by
Roe. She argued Trump would let his anti-abortion allies implement
Project 2025 proposals to restrict abortion and contraception throughout the United States. Trump claimed credit for overturning
Roe but criticized Republicans pushing for total abortion bans. Trump said he would leave the issue of abortion for the states to decide but would allow red states to monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute them if they have an abortion. In his home state of Florida, Trump announced he would vote "No" on
Amendment 4, an abortion rights referendum, preserving the six-week ban. The announcement came one day after he initially criticized the six-week ban for being "too short" and said he would vote to lengthen it. Trump repeated a false claim that Democrats support abortions after birth and "executing" babies.
Border security and immigration at the border in 2011 to discuss strategies to combat transnational gang crime Border security and immigration were among the top issues concerning potential voters in the election. Polling showed that most Americans want to reduce immigration, and that a substantial minority of white Republicans were concerned about
white demographic decline. In 2023 and early 2024, a surge of migrants entering through the border with Mexico occurred. By June 2024, illegal crossings reached a three-year low following four consecutive monthly drops, which senior officials attributed to increased enforcement between the United States and Mexico, the weather, and Biden's executive order (
A Proclamation on Securing the Border) increasing asylum restrictions. Harris promised to fight for "strong border security" coupled with an earned pathway to citizenship. Harris highlighted her work in combating transnational gangs, drug cartels, and
human traffickers while attorney general. As vice president, Harris announced in 2023 that she had garnered pledges of US$950 million from private companies to aid Central American communities to address the causes of mass migration, such as poverty. Harris supported increasing the number of
U.S. Border Patrol agents and accused Trump of being unserious on border security. As vice president, Harris also supported a bipartisan bill that would have funded additional border agents and closed the border if too crowded; the bill was rejected by Trump. Trump called on House and Senate Republicans to kill the bill, arguing it would hurt his and the Republican Party's reelection campaigns and deny them the ability to run on immigration as a campaign issue. Harris criticized Trump for his opposition to the bill on the campaign trail, on the southern border if elected. Trump stated that if he were elected, he would increase deportations, send the U.S. military to the border, expand
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions through workplace raids, Trump has said he will deport both legal and illegal immigrants.
The New York Times reported that Trump was considering "an extreme expansion of his first-term crackdown on immigration", such as "preparing to round up undocumented people already in the United States on a vast scale and detain them in sprawling camps while they wait to be expelled". Trump stated his intention to deport 11 million people through the construction of detention camps and deploy the military, Trump made false claims of a "migrant crime wave" that are not supported by data, and provided no evidence to back up his claims. In regards to his anti-immigrant
nativism, Trump's tone grew harsher from his previous time as president, racial stereotypes, who will "rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill" American citizens, that they are "building an army" of "fighting age" men to attack Americans "from within", and are the "enemy from within" who are ruining the "fabric" of the country. In the 20 rallies that occurred after
Trump's debate with Harris,
Politico cited experts who found that Trump's rhetoric strongly echoed authoritarian and
Nazi ideology; Trump made claims that immigrants are genetically predisposed to commit crimes and have "bad genes".
Climate change Climate change and energy policy played a role in the 2024 presidential campaign. In 2023, the United States saw a record in crude oil production with over 13.2 million barrels of crude per day, beating the 13 million barrels per day produced at the peak of Trump's presidency. The United States also dealt with supply shocks caused by the
2021–2024 global energy crisis due to the
COVID-19 pandemic and
Russian invasion of Ukraine. An advocate for
environmental justice to address the impact of climate change on lower-income areas and people of color, Harris supported Biden's climate legislation. the largest investment in addressing climate change and clean energy in American history, putting the United States on track to meet emissions reduction targets by 50–52% below 2005 levels by 2030. Harris's campaign stated that she would not support a ban on
fracking. and repeatedly referred to his energy policy under the mantra "
drill, baby, drill". Trump said he would increase oil drilling on public lands and offer tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal producers, and stated his goal for the United States to have the lowest cost of electricity and energy of any country in the world. Trump stated his intention to roll back parts of the
Inflation Reduction Act, Biden's signature domestic legislation. The implementation of Trump's plans would add around 4 billion tons of
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030, also having effects on the international level. If the policies do not change further, it would add 15 billion tons by 2040 and 27 billion by 2050. Although the exact calculation is difficult, researchers stated: "Regardless of the precise impact, a second Trump term that successfully dismantles
Biden's climate legacy would likely end any global hopes of keeping
global warming below 1.5C."
Democracy Polling before the election indicated profound dissatisfaction with the state of
American democracy. According to an October 25
ABC/
Ipsos poll, 49% of Americans saw Trump as a
fascist, described as "a political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights and threatens or uses force against their opponents". Meanwhile, only 22% saw Harris as a fascist by this definition. Some Republicans were concerned that Trump's former
impeachment and
four criminal indictments were attempts to influence the election and keep him from office; however, there is no evidence that Trump's criminal trials were "election interference" orchestrated by Biden and the Democratic Party, Trump's 2024 presidential campaign was criticized by legal experts, historians, and political scientists for making increasingly
dehumanizing, violent, and
authoritarian statements. Trump's platform called for the vast expansion of presidential powers and the executive branch over every part of the federal government. Trump called for stripping employment protections for thousands of career civil service employees (a provision known as
Schedule F appointment that had been adopted by Trump at the end of 2020) and replacing them with political loyalists if deemed an "obstacle to his agenda" within federal agencies, the
United States Intelligence Community,
State Department, and
Department of Defense. Trump repeatedly stated his intention to have the
Justice Department investigate and arrest his domestic political rivals, judges, prosecutors, and witnesses involved in his criminal trials. Calling the
January 6, 2021, Capitol attack a "day of love", Trump promised to
pardon those charged for their involvement and called them "hostages" and "great, great patriots". Trump played down the possibility of violence if he were to lose the 2024 election, but did not rule it out altogether. Trump said his political opponents are a greater threat to the United States than countries such as Russia, China, and North Korea. He urged that the U.S. Armed Forces be deployed on American soil to fight "the enemy from within", which—according to Trump—included "radical left lunatics" and Democratic politicians such as
Adam Schiff. Trump repeatedly voiced support for outlawing political dissent and criticism he considers misleading or challenges his claims to power. Trump previously tried to have his political rivals prosecuted during his first term. Harris was tasked by Biden with protecting democracy through voting rights legislation through her work on the
For the People Act. Harris supported efforts to defend election workers and counter
Republican efforts to restrict voting following the 2020 presidential election. A December 2023
Gallup poll found a record low 28% of Americans reporting that they were satisfied with the way democracy is working in the country. In the weeks before the election, surveys showed that many favored a concession speech from the losing presidential candidate, had broad concerns about the state of democracy and were fearful of future acts of political violence. Surveys from the
National Election Pool and
VoteCast highlight the role the issue of democracy played in the election. According to results provided by the National Election Pool, 34% percent of voters said that the state of democracy mattered most to their vote. The poll found that 25% of those who cast a ballot said that democracy in the U.S. is secure, while 73% said it is threatened. VoteCast found that half of voters identified the future of democracy as the single most important factor for their vote. 9 in 10 Harris voters who said that democracy was the single most important factor expressed concern that electing Trump would bring the country closer to authoritarianism. About 80% of Trump voters who chose democracy as their top issue expressed concern about a Harris presidency becoming authoritarian.
Economic issues , with the gray column indicating the
COVID-19 recession Voters consistently cited the economy as their top issue in the 2024 election. Following the
COVID-19 pandemic,
a global surge in inflation ensued that raised prices on many goods, although the U.S. inflation rate had declined significantly during 2023 and 2024.
The New York Times reported that both candidates "embraced a vision of a powerful federal government, using its muscle to intervene in markets in pursuit of a stronger and more prosperous economy". Twenty-three
Nobel Prize-winning economists signed a letter characterizing the Harris economic plan as "vastly superior" to the Trump plan. Trump's designated government efficiency leader
Elon Musk said in October that he expected Trump's plan would involve more than $2 trillion in federal spending cuts and would cause "some temporary hardship." Harris ran on a pro-union platform. She promoted the passage of the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, funding for small business, and previously supported an act as senator to provide a $6,000 tax credit for middle and low-income families.
The New York Times described Harris's economic policy as embracing "the idea that the federal government must act aggressively to foster competition and correct distortions in private markets". Harris proposed raising taxes on corporations and high-earners to fund services for the lower and middle classes and reduce the deficit. Harris also supported efforts to create a tax on unrealized gains for those with more than a $100 million in net worth if they do not pay a minimum 25% tax rate on their income inclusive of unrealized gains so long as 80% of said wealth is in tradeable assets. The plan would impact a small percentage of the wealthy in the United States, and
Axios reported most tech founders and investors would be spared. Harris also announced support for restoring the corporate tax rate to 28% among several other tax proposals to raise taxes and close loopholes for corporations and the wealthy that would bring in $5 trillion in additional revenue over 10 years. Harris proposed tax breaks to companies delivering economic benefit, such as manufacturing technologies that
mitigate climate change and building
affordable housing, and proposed a ban on corporate price gouging to "help the food industry become more competitive". Harris also expressed support for student debt relief, In response to the
housing crisis in the United States, Harris said she would increase home construction to reduce housing costs, arguing that it negatively impacts the economy and hurts working-class families. Harris proposed directing $40 billion to construction companies to build starter homes, and promised to send $25,000 in down-payment assistance to every first time home buyer. Trump proposed further individual and corporate tax cuts beyond the
2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Trump argued that keeping taxes low for the wealthy increases job creation, and that these policies coupled with a crackdown in illegal immigration and reduction in inflation would help the middle class. along with reducing environmental regulation. By October 2024, Musk was Trump's second-largest individual campaign donor. Trump said deporting millions of immigrants would bring housing prices down, although most economists argue it could raise prices by removing construction workers who use less real estate. Trump and Harris support not taxing tips for at least hospitality and service workers. Trump suggested that he would abolish the federal income tax and replace it with tariffs. In June 2024, Trump discussed the idea of eliminating the income tax in a private meeting with Republican politicians. In October 2024, Trump suggested that he would scrap the income tax if he wins, pointing out that tariffs were the main sources of revenue in the 19th century. Trump's stated trade policy involves the United States decoupling from the global economy and having the country become more self-contained and exerting its power through individual trade dealings. This would be attempted largely through a universal baseline tariff, with increased penalties if trade partners manipulate their currency or engage in unfair trade practices. Trump stated his plans to urge Congress to pass a Trump Reciprocal Trade Act to bestow presidential authority to impose a reciprocal tariff on any country that imposed one on the United States. Trump's trade policies were described as
protectionist, neo-
mercantilist, or
autarkist, and increasing inflation became a more common critique of Trump's economic plans. In June 2024, 16
Nobel Prize in Economics laureates signed an open letter arguing that Trump's fiscal and trade policies coupled with efforts to limit the
Federal Reserve's independence would reignite inflation in the United States.
Moody's, as well as most economists surveyed by
The Wall Street Journal in July 2024, predicted that inflation would be worse under Trump than Biden, a result due in part to tariffs, a crack down on illegal immigration, and larger deficits. Trump incorrectly insisted foreign exporters pay tariffs imposed by the U.S. government; American importers pay tariffs on goods upon arrival at U.S. ports, meaning tariffs are taxes that raise prices for imported products Americans buy. One non-partisan analysis estimated the proposed tariffs would cost $1,700 per year for the average household. while the
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found Trump's plan would only benefit the top 5% of earners.
Education Trump pledged to terminate the
U.S. Department of Education, claiming it has been infiltrated by "radical zealots and Marxists". At the
American Federation of Teachers national convention, Harris attacked
recent efforts to ban books in school libraries. She also previously called for raising teachers' wages.
Healthcare issues Unlike previous elections, healthcare reform played a much more minor role in the 2024 presidential election. Harris stated that she no longer supported a
single-payer healthcare system as she had in 2020. Instead, she said she intended to protect and expand items legislated during the
Obama and
Biden administrations. She said she would "maintain and grow" the
Affordable Care Act, while Trump said that he would replace it with his own healthcare plan. Harris also supported limiting yearly out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors, and expanding the $35 cap on insulin for seniors on
Medicare to younger individuals in the program as well. Trump suggested he was open to cutting entitlement programs, such as
Social Security and
Medicare, part of an effort to "[cut] waste" as described by his campaign. During his first term, several budget proposals did suggest cuts to the programs. Additionally, Vance and Speaker of the House
Mike Johnson suggested cuts to the ACA, including around
pre-existing conditions, were part of Trump's plan. After
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, Kennedy advocated for his "
Make America Healthy Again" agenda, pledging to combat the upward trend in chronic disease patients, with Trump saying Kennedy would "go wild" regarding policy on food and medicines.
Foreign policy signing
Executive Order 14065 in February 2022 in response to Russia's imminent invasion of Ukraine. The United States has given
billions worth of military aid to Ukraine following the Russian invasion of the country in 2022. The
Russo-Ukrainian war, the
Gaza war, and
Chinese expansionism were some of the main foreign policy issues of the election. Harris signaled she would generally follow Biden's foreign policy on
NATO and Ukraine, supporting both in the aftermath of the Russian invasion. A supporter of the
two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Harris was expected to continue Biden's approach; she was seen as tougher on Israel and more sympathetic to Palestinians than Biden or Trump. Harris was expected to continue deepening American alliances in Asia and the Pacific with the intention of curbing China's rising power both economically and militarily. Trump's 2024 campaign promoted an
isolationist, "
America First" foreign policy. Trump said that America's allies "treat us actually worse than our so-called enemies", and added: "We protect them and then they screw us on trade." He also vowed to impose
tariffs on trade partners; economists said this could spark
trade wars. He promised to "fundamentally reevaluate" NATO, shifting the country's defense spending from Europe towards Asia. Although NATO members are
obliged to defend any other member who is attacked, Trump said he would encourage Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to NATO allies that did not spend enough on defense. NATO Secretary-General
Jens Stoltenberg responded: "Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security." Trump vowed that even before he was inaugurated, and make Europeans reimburse the United States the cost of rebuilding its old stockpiles; Trump previously said he might recognize
Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, and suggested the
2022 invasion could have been prevented by Ukraine giving up parts of its own country to Russia. Trump promised a tougher stance against China, Trump suggested withdrawing troops from South Korea if it does not pay more to support American troops there. According to a
YouGov poll in March 2024, 52% of Americans supported stopping weapons shipments to Israel, coming largely from Americans who voted for Biden in 2020 (62% support) and people who did not vote in 2020 (60%). Republicans opposed halting weapons shipments by 25 points. Republicans generally supported arms to Israel, while Democrats were divided on the issue. Harris largely continued Biden's approach to the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict, In the Democratic primaries, the
Uncommitted National Movement led a protest campaign against Biden and later Harris over the war, calling for a ceasefire and
arms embargo on Israel. It received over 700,000 votes and 36 delegates. Harris engaged with Uncommitted and Arab-American leaders, but refused to change her position. Harris argued for continued weapons shipments to Israel, saying it had a right to defend itself. Uncommitted ultimately encouraged its supporters to vote for Harris, though many were reluctant. Trump consistently supported Israel, though presented himself as the "candidate of peace". Trump also supported giving weapons to Israel, likely with "no strings attached", saying that it must "finish the problem". Trump took a hardline stance against pro-Palestinian protests, telling donors he would "crush" them and deport non-citizen protestors to "set the movement back 25 or 30 years". At times, Trump was critical of Israel's conduct, saying Israel should "get it over with ... get back to peace and stop killing people". However, he pledged to end the war in Gaza through negotiation and bring peace to the Middle East. Trump called Biden's
airstrikes on Yemen "crazy" and suggested negotiating with the
Houthis.
LGBTQ rights In the 2020s, conservative politicians in state legislatures introduced a growing number of bills that restrict the rights of
LGBTQ people, especially
transgender people. A strong supporter of
LGBTQ rights, Harris denounced legislative attacks on transgender rights in states across the country. Exit polls showed that Harris had an 86%-12% advantage over Trump among voters who say that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Harris' lead among this group is the largest for a 21st-century Democratic presidential candidate with those reporting to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (2016–2024) and gay/lesbian/bisexual respondents (2000–2008). Exit poll results for the 2012 election are not available. Trump promised to roll back policies regarding transgender individuals. Trump stated he would rescind Biden's
Title IX protections "on day one" for transgender students using bathrooms, locker rooms, and pronouns that align with their
gender identities. Trump stated he would enact a federal law that would recognize only two genders and claimed that being transgender is a concept only recently manufactured by "the radical left". Trump previously withdrew Title IX provisions that allowed transgender youth to have access to the bathrooms of their choice, and he attempted to roll-back several transgender-related policies in the
Affordable Care Act. Trump repeated a false claim that children undergo transgender surgery while at school, without parental knowledge or consent. According to
Future Forward PAC, a derivative of his campaign's "
Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you"
attack ad (with commentary by
Charlamagne tha God spliced in) was one of the most effective of the campaign, shifting the race 2.7 percentage points in favor of Trump after viewers watched it. However, findings from an
RCT study released by Ground Media/
GLAAD said that the ad did not have an impact on who viewers intended to vote for. ==Election-related violence==