The Yahoo Finance guide to the presidential election

August 24, 2024

2 minutes read

When either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris takes power in 2025, they will have a significant effect on your financial life for years to come.

Are you most focused on your finances in retirement? Best to look at what each side might do when it comes to things like Social Security and drug costs.

More concerned about the price of everyday goods? How the new administration approaches an array of issues, from the Federal Reserve to tariffs to Ukraine, will have an impact there.

And don’t forget taxes. A range of Trump-era tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2025, and the shape of any deal to avert what would be an effective tax hike for millions of Americans will be defined by who occupies the Oval Office next year.

To help sort through the furious election season, Yahoo Finance analyzed the positions of the two nominees on 20 of the top financial issues up for debate. These are the ones that matter most for American wallets.

What you will find as you explore our interactive guide below is that the two parties are promising vastly different approaches to consequential policies that impact nearly every aspect of your economic future.

Yahoo Finance compiled this guide based on what the candidates have said on the campaign trail as well as through conversations with campaign officials and outside experts.

The guide doesn’t address a range of other important topics that are central in voters minds’ — notably issues like abortion and the Middle East — only because they have less direct financial consequences.

Political unrest is also a top concern for voters, with Democrats often highlighting what they see as Donald Trump’s threat to democracy and Trump himself surviving an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

The race was upended in July when President Joe Biden stepped aside from his reelection bid after a politically calamitous debate performance. Vice President Kamala Harris quickly stepped in to replace him and proceeded to secure the Democratic nomination within days.

Harris holds broadly similar positions to Biden but is gradually sketching out details of her own economic agenda, including the release in August of a plan focused on the cost of living.

The information in this interactive guide will be updated throughout the campaign season as more details of both candidates’ positions emerge as well as with the latest Yahoo Finance coverage.