This year’s election features two candidates with different ideologies when it comes to job creation, health care and foreign policy. President Barack Obama said he plans to continue and also improve his policies from his first term, while former Gov. Mitt Romney said he will implement different policies to benefit the country.

Both candidates have solidified plans to revitalize the country, but Jeffrey Stonecash, a political science professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said it’s impossible to tell which candidate’s policies will actually work.

“We got Obama who talks about infrastructure, about educating more students, about encouraging more manufacturing jobs, but we aren’t sure that that’s going to work,” he said. “And we got Romney who’s anti-government, anti-tax, anti-regulation. He says it’s going to revive the economy. We have no assurance that’s really going to work.”

Here is a breakdown of each candidate’s positions on the issues of jobs, health care and foreign policy.

Economy

Obama: The president said he will eliminate tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs overseas to countries such as China or India and provide incentives for companies to create jobs in America. Obama said he invested $2 billion in community colleges and proposed creating partnerships between colleges and employers to train workers for new jobs. Finally, the president said he has already signed laws for companies to hire unemployed veterans and wounded soldiers.

Romney: The Republican candidate said he has a five-point plan for creating new jobs in America. This plan includes energy independence for the country, access to affordable higher education, free and open trade markets, cutting the deficit and reducing taxes on job creation.

Robert McClure, a political science professor at Maxwell, said these plans are typical policies of each respective party. He said the Democratic Party has a history of using more government action, while the Republican Party usually implements a societal-based philosophy that uses the government reluctantly.

“Neither candidate is going to create jobs, no matter what,” he said. “The president will use government action, government money, to give both public and private economy entities more resources to create jobs. Romney will tend to use lower taxes and less regulation to help people in the private sector create jobs.”

Health care

Obama: One of the biggest policies implemented two years ago was the creation of an affordable health care plan by the government. He said he will ban insurance companies from discrimination against patients with pre-existing conditions, as well as lower the cost of health care and guarantee more choices for plans.

Romney: The governor’s plan is simple: He said he will repeal Obama’s health care plan. Romney said he encourages individuals to buy their own health insurance rather than buy plans through employers. He also said he will create market-based reforms that allow states and individuals to reduce health care costs.

Stonecash said he sees a clear choice for students who go to the polls who are concerned about health care. He said Obama’s current health care plan will benefit students more.

“It will let students stay on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26,” he said. “But that assumes the parents have insurance; they may not. (Students) will clearly be better off, because otherwise there’s just going to be a lot of people without health insurance.”

Foreign Policy

Obama: Obama said he will end the war in Afghanistan by 2014. In terms of national defense, Obama said he plans to cut the budget, strengthen military partnerships and alliances, and also rebalance defense capabilities. With the Middle East, Obama said he will engage in diplomacy, but military action is still an option.

Romney: The main difference between Romney and Obama with regard to foreign policy is the defense budget. Romney said he will increase the defense budget in order to modernize the air and naval forces and weapons. Romney also said the goal is to end the war in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but this would only be based on conditions on the ground as assessed by military commanders. Romney has similar ideas in dealing with the Middle East, but he said he will increase sanctions that prevent regimes from taking over countries and gaining nuclear weapons.

McClure said America’s foreign policy is determined not by philosophy, but by national interests and events around the world.

“There is a pretty clear marginal but meaningful difference,” he said. “Romney and Republicans will have a larger defense budget than Obama and the Democrats. It’s their tradition, their history.”

Both candidates offer strikingly different views on particular policies across the board. Obama and Romney plan to continue the typical positions that their respective political parties have held throughout the history of American politics. No matter who wins, Stonecash said he believes this election is extremely important, but there is too much uncertainty in the future to be able to see whose policies will help the country the most.

Said Stonecash: “(The election is) not going to resolve anything, but it’s going to make a big difference in what kind of policies come of the White House.”

Published on November 5, 2012 at 1:59 am

Contact Tyler: tagreena@syr.edu