From fracking to guns to abortion and social security, we look at the old and new policy positions of the two main presidential candidates.
Presidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have both changed their views on major issues throughout their careers.
Harris has recently asserted that “my values have not changed,” while Trump has similarly downplayed shifts in his opinions on political topics over his nearly five decades in the public eye.
“The advantage in switching positions is to move to the middle to attract moderate, undecided voters,” Robert Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University, told The Epoch Times. “The risk is looking awkward and perhaps alienating supporters of the original positions.”
Shapiro added that it’s probably a “good risk” at this stage, as the two candidates’ supporters will likely stick by them as they appeal to others.
Switches, however, can also lead voters to question a candidate’s judgment.
“After 9/11, a number of Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, voted for the Iraq War, only to change their minds when it went sideways,” John Murphy, a communications professor specializing in presidential rhetoric at the University of Illinois, told The Epoch Times.
“That hurt them later in the decade—created a flip-flopping issue for Kerry and a vulnerability for Clinton when Obama could say he had less experience but better judgment in 2008.”
Others suggest that while pivoting can be seen as a form of pandering, it has defensive advantages.
“I see both Harris and Trump attempting to use their changes in positions to blunt any attack that could be made against them from the other side,” Aaron Dusso, a political science professor at Indiana University–Indianapolis, told The Epoch Times.
The Epoch Times chose four policies that have seen an evolution in positions from each candidate. For Harris, her views on fracking, immigration, Medicare for All, and gun control, have all changed. Trump has shifted on abortion, marijuana, Social Security, and state and local tax deduction (SALT).
By Jacob Burg
