The presidential election looms just over a month away, and it will see Americans elect one of several candidates to be the 45th President of the United States. Democratic Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are the major candidates, with Libertarian Former Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico and Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party as minor, third-party candidates.

Each candidate presents a unique worldview on a changing nation, and it bears looking at candidates’ positions on several important issues to millennials.

On the economy, each candidate hopes to help the economy continue its recent rebound from the Great Recession. Precisely how each will go about creating such economic growth is where they differ. Secretary Clinton favors traditional Democratic economics, and will likely seek to cut taxes on the middle class in order to help the economy. Conversely, Donald Trump will place high tariffs on goods from China and Mexico, with the hope of bolstering American business. Both Mrs. Clinton’s and Mr. Trump’s respective plans will do little to decrease the national debt. Of all the candidates, Governor Johnson has the most traditionally conservative view of the economy, supporting a balanced budget and elimination of the minimum wage. Both Secretary Clinton and Dr. Stein back a higher minimum wage.

On foreign policy, Clinton and Trump take very different positions on America’s role in the world. Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump both support fighting ISIS, but only Mr. Trump backs sending in ground troops to battle the Islamic State threat. Mrs. Clinton’s foreign policy tends to also be more globally active then Mr. Trump, who has an isolationist viewpoint and supports working with Russia rather the tough stance towards Vladimir Putin’s government taken by Mrs. Clinton. Governor Johnson and Dr. Stein both also take isolationist stances on issues relating to the war on ISIS and Russia.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump each take traditional party stances on gun control; Mr. Trump supports looser regulations, while Mrs. Clinton favors increased background checks on would-be gun buyers. In other important issues, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump both support the death penalty in some form, while the two third party candidates do not. And in one of the campaign’s hottest issues, Mrs. Clinton is the only one of the candidates to support a continuation of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) into the next administration. Mr. Trump, Governor Johnson, and Dr. Stein have all committed to alternatives to the law.

Secretary Clinton, Mr. Trump, Governor Johnson, and Dr. Stein will all be on the ballot in Ohio for Election Day, which this year is November 8.

Patrick Andres Staff Writer