In most elections, voters have to compare what a president has done with what his opponent claims he would do. This election is different, since both candidates have served a term in the White House - and that means they both have a record which voters can compare and judge. That hasn't happened in more than a century (since Teddy Roosevelt ran against William Howard Taft).
In the following, Robert Reich compares the records of Biden and Trump:
THE FACTS:
Under Trump the economy lost 2.9 million jobs. Under Biden, it has gained 15 million,so far.
Under Trump, the unemployment rate rose by 1.6 percentage points to 6.3 percent. Under Biden, unemployment has remained under 4 percent for the longest stretch in over 50 years. Working-age women are being employed at a record rate, and wages are rising for American workers.
In 2016, candidate Trump campaigned against the trade deficit with China. He called it “theft” and even used the term “rape” to describe it. In 2016, the U.S. goods trade deficit with the China was near $350 billion. In the first three years of the Trump administration (before COVID-19), it worsened, averaging almost $379 billion per year.
Under Biden, America’s trade deficit with China has improved dramatically — falling by $103 billion, or 27 percent, to $279 billion. It’s the lowest bilateral deficit in goods since 2010.
Under Biden, the stock market has soared. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 40,000 for the first time in history, exceeding the market’s annualized return under Trump.
Under Trump, the national debt rose from about $19.9 trillion to about $27.8 trillion, an increase of about 39 percent, and more than in any other four-year presidential term. It happened mainly because of Trump’s enormous tax cuts for wealthy Americans and big corporations.
The Trump and George W. Bush tax cuts have added $10 trillion to the debt since their enactment and are responsible for 57 percent of the increase in the debt ratio since 2001. They’re responsible for more than 90 percent of the increase in the debt ratio if the one-time costs of bills responding to COVID and the Great Recession are excluded.
Under Biden, the national debt has grown at a far slower pace.
Under Trump, the number of Americans lacking health insurance rose by 3 million. Under Biden, it’s been just the opposite. Enrollment in Obamacare has surged from 12 million in 2021 to 21.3 million today. To address consumer prices, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed by President Biden expanded and extended the refundable tax credits that help Americans purchase health insurance.
Meanwhile, the actual prices of goods and services is lower today than it was four years ago under Trump, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That’s because incomes have grown faster than prices over that four-year period.
Biden’s investments in infrastructure, semiconductors, and green technologies are rebuilding the middle class. While Biden is making the biggest investment in infrastructure in sixty years, Trump talked about investing in infrastructure (his “infrastructure weeks” became a late-night TV joke), but he never did.
Spending on new factories has almost tripled over the past three years, as companies rush to locate in the U.S. market. Construction employment in April hit an all-time high of 8.2 million workers.
The CHIPs Act is creating large numbers of manufacturing jobs. It also activates the Davis Bacon Act, requiring that contractors and subcontractors pay the prevailing wage. It commits companies receiving grants to allow workers to unionize. It builds new plants in areas that have suffered job losses and decline. And it commits companies getting grants to include daycare facilities in their new plants.
Trump and other Republicans pretend to be on the side of average working Americans, while promising their big corporate backers even more tax cuts. Trump cut taxes on big corporations and the wealthy. He reduced the threshold salary for overtime pay.
By contrast, Biden has said he will not extend Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. Biden raised the threshold salary for overtime pay and made it easier to unionize. He was the first president in history to walk a picket line.
Trump’s record on antitrust enforcement was abysmal. By contrast, Biden has been the most activist trust-buster in a half century.
In terms of the core goal of rebuilding the middle class, Biden’s administration has been the most successful of any administration over the past forty years. Trump’s was the least successful.
Oh, and let’s not forget: Trump mounted an attempted coup against the United States government, seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election and encouraging his followers to riot at the Capitol.
