Biden frequently stated his intention to "finish the job" as a campaign theme and political rallying cry. Biden was described as a
political moderate and
centrist, and during the campaign was seeking to attract moderate Republicans and independents for his 2024 reelection bid.
Abortion access Biden was described as running on one of the most overtly abortion rights platform of any general election candidate in political history. Biden promised to restore
Roe v. Wade if reelected, and criticized court rulings limiting abortion access or restricting the availability of abortion pills.
Democracy Biden made defending American democracy the cornerstone of his presidential campaign, stating during a speech on January 5, 2024, "the defense, protection and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency." Biden frequently called attention to Trump's former
attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election and its
culmination in the
January 6 United States Capitol attack, widely described as an attempted
coup d'état or
self-coup. Trump has claimed that Joe Biden is the "destroyer" and real threat to democracy, and has repeated
false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him, of which there has been no evidence. which echoes Biden's framing of current geopolitics as "the battle between democracy and autocracy." Joe Biden previously cited democracy and "a battle for the soul of our nation" as a key message of his successful 2020 run, and repeatedly touched on the issue of democracy since announcing his candidacy for the 2020 presidential election.
Economy and trade Biden dubbed his economic policy "Bidenomics" and promised to create middle-class jobs and reject
trickle-down economics. For his 2024 reelection campaign, Biden pointed to his previous passage of the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the
Chips and Science Act, and the
Inflation Reduction Act; all of which are expected to invest $1 to $2 trillion in industrial policy over 10 years. Biden previously passed the
American Rescue Plan Act to speed up the economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic and
subsequent recession. Biden's trade agenda was described as rejecting traditional
neoliberal economic policies and the
Washington Consensus in favor of de-risking supply chains from China and economic investment in target nations to address pandemic resilience, climate change,
U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and the rejection of Chinese-style autocracy. Biden's policies are expected to increase public-private partnerships through the
World Bank and
IMF to compete with China's
Belt and Road Initiative. Biden stated his intention to reverse neoliberal policies that resulted in the offshoring of manufacturing and thus resulted in increased
populist backlash. Biden enacted several targeted tariffs against China in strategic sectors such as EVs, solar cells, steel, and aluminum to protect American manufacturing and blunt China's technological and military ambitions.
Education Biden previously supported two-years of free community college during his 2020 campaign, and has continued to propose it in yearly budget requests despite failing to have it pass during negotiations with Republicans as part of his
Build Back Better Plan in 2021. Biden promised to triple
Title I funding, and as of the end of 2023, managed an 11% increase totaling $2 billion for Title I along with increased funding for
Pell Grants and $7.3 billion in investments for
HBCU's. Biden has stated he opposes book bans and has promised to appoint an anti-book ban coordinator to address the issue. Biden has stated that attacks on teachers for talking about race and racism is wrong, and has opposed Florida's
Parental Rights in Education Act. Biden supports protections for transgender students while also allowing school districts to restrict
transgender women in competitive women's sports through updating
Title IX protections. Biden continues to support student loan relief and had made it a promise of his initial 2020 campaign, and previously attempted a $400 billion student debt relief plan that was
ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Biden has since implemented a more modest income-driven $39 billion debt relief plan impacting 800,000 borrowers who had paid their loans over 20 years, and waived some rules regarding the
Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that resulted in an additional 662,000 people having some debt canceled. On January 12, 2024, Biden announced debt relief under the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan to wipe loans up to $12,000 that have been in repayment for 10 years or more, along with additional measures to take effect in July to limit payments to 5% of discretionary income from the previous 10%. As of the end of 2023, Biden has canceled $132 billion worth of student loans affecting 3.6 million borrowers despite the Supreme Court's prior ruling. On March 21, 2024, Biden announced an additional $5.8 billion in loan relief for 77,700 borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. On April 12, 2024, Biden announced another $7.4 billion in student loan relief affecting roughly 277,000 borrowers.
Energy, environment, and climate change Biden stated he believes in human-caused
climate change. with over $375 billion in funding and putting the US on track to meet emissions reduction targets by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030, and has created 170,600 new clean energy jobs with over $278 billion in new investments in 44 states. Biden has stated his intention to use both regulation and market forces to address climate change, and has established clean energy tax credits and subsidies for electric cars, heat-pumps, and climate friendly technology. Biden's first term dealt with supply shocks caused by the
2021-2024 global energy crisis due to the
COVID-19 pandemic and
Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign policy Biden has been described as presiding over "the most transformative phase in U.S. foreign policy in decades," and has made strengthening American alliances to ensure a "position of trusted leadership" among allies to counter Russia and China, and ensuring that no other world power should surpass the United States in the military and economic spheres a focus of his presidency. Biden noticeably sought to reduce U.S. military presence in the
Greater Middle East, and
withdrew troops from Afghanistan after which the
Taliban seized control. Biden has made strengthening the
NATO alliance and preparing for great power competition a cornerstone of his first term in office, and has promised to defend the NATO alliance during his second term following reported comments that Trump told European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen that America would "never come to help you and to support you" if Europe was attacked. Biden has described modern geopolitics as "the battle between democracy and autocracy."
Gun violence Biden promised to tackle gun violence through enacting universal background checks and increasing scrutiny of sales in gun shows and other unlicensed venues. Biden has also proposed implementing a ban on assault weapons. Biden was previously instrumental in passing the 1994
Federal Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004, and has spoken of its impacts on the campaign trail. Biden stated his support of the
First Step Act,
red flag laws, increased background checks, the ability to bar people from carrying guns in schools and allowing gun manufacturers to be sued in court. Biden previously announced the formation of the
White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, signed the first major gun control legislation in 30 years through the
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and issued
Executive Order 14092 to stiffen background checks, ensure safer firearms storage and provide additional direction for law enforcement agencies.
Immigration Biden stated his intention to increase funding and resources for border patrol and enforcement, provide a path for people in the United States to apply for legal status and eventually citizenship, and create a smoother and expanded visa process for foreign graduates of American universities. Biden previously introduced the
U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 on his first day of office that stalled due to Republican opposition. overturned Trump's travel ban in
Executive Order 13780, and reversed Trump's
Executive Order 13768 that targeted
sanctuary cities in the United States. The Biden administration has undertaken a policy of punishing migrants who enter the country illegally and providing temporary protections to migrants from certain countries such as Venezuela, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti. This has resulted in a total increase in migrants legally arriving at points of entry, and a decrease in migrants attempting to illegally cross the border. In February 2024, Biden supported a bipartisan immigration bill to address the
Mexico-United States border crisis that included many conservative demands and also unlocked aid to Ukraine and Israel. Trump successfully called on House and Senate Republicans to kill the bill arguing that it would hurt his and Republican's reelection campaigns and deny them the ability to run on immigration as an issue. Biden has since promised to campaign "every day" on Republican's refusal to pass the bill, stating that Donald Trump is the "only reason the border is not secure." On June 4, 2024, Biden
passed an executive order to shut down the border if illegal crossings reached an average of 2,500 migrants a day in a given week.
Law enforcement Biden ran on a pro-police message and has explicitly stated his opposition to the "
defund the police" movement and Republican calls to "defund the FBI." and has provided hundreds of millions since then towards the hiring of additional police officers, school safety efforts, and community policing efforts. Biden has also called on police reform, stating in February 2023, "when police officers or police departments violate the public trust, they must be held accountable." During his first term, Biden restricted the transfer of military equipment to police, directed federal law enforcement to restrict chokeholds and no-knock warrants, ordered new use-of-force standards within the Justice Department and signed an executive order to create a national database of fired police officers.
LGBT, civil, and voting rights Biden stated he supports protecting the
LGBT community and supports access to gender-affirming care. Biden previously attempted to pass the
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in response to the
George Floyd protests that ultimately failed after talks with Republican Senators broke down, resulting in Biden's passage of
Executive Order 14074. Biden also passed the
Emmett Till Antilynching Act to officially make
lynching a federal hate crime. Biden passed
Executive Order 14019 to protect voting rights following
Republican efforts to restrict voting following the 2020 presidential election, and attempted to pass the
For the People Act to reduce the influence of
money in politics, ban
partisan gerrymandering, and create new federal ethics rules for officeholders that ultimately failed over opposition from Republican Senators.
Social services and healthcare Biden promised to include the remaining pledges left out of his initial
Build Back Better Act owing to resistance from Senators that ultimately resulted in the compromise
Inflation Reduction Act. These include offering two years of free community college tuition, offering universal preschool and limiting the cost of childcare to 7% of income for most families. Biden has also signaled his intention to resuscitate the expanded child tax credit initially passed in the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to $3,000 for children over six and $3,600 to children under 6, which previously resulted in a roughly 30% reduction in child poverty. Biden has promised to protect and defend the
Affordable Care Act after Trump commented he would seek to replace the law if he wins a second term, and Republican senators expressed openness to repealing certain sections of the law. Biden has promised to defend
Social Security and
Medicare following comments made by Trump during a March 11, 2024, interview that suggested he was open to cutting the entitlement programs, which the Trump campaign later said was merely referring to "cutting waste." Biden has also signaled his intention to expand the price cap on the cost of insulin at $35 for Medicare recipients enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act to private insurance.
Taxes and deficit reduction Biden shared plans to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans to fund social services and reduce the deficit. Biden has proposed raising the top tax rate to 39.6%, the corporate tax rate to 28% and the stock buyback tax to 4%. Biden proposed a "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" that would target one-hundredth of 1% of Americans (roughly 700 billionaires) that would raise over $361 billion over 10 years by ensuring the wealthy pay a minimum tax rate of 20%. Biden previously implemented a 15% minimum tax on companies with annual income exceeding $1 billion. On January 12, 2024, the IRS announced it had collected more than $520 million in back taxes from delinquent high-income individuals, complex partnerships and large corporations due to increased funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. ==Campaign finances==