Never before have two presidential candidates offered such utterly different visions of America.
Kamala Harris points to a way forward, building on the legacy of the Biden years, while Donald Trump seeks return the US to a time when many felt things were better and America was stronger.
The 2024 campaign has seen unprecedented attacks and vicious name calling. While blistering rhetoric may satisfy some voters, others vote on policies.
Here, we take a look at what both candidates have said they would do during a White House term.
Tariffs
Trump
"The most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff," the Republican candidate recently told The Economic Club of Chicago.
His plan to lift the US economy is to impose tariffs on imports - particularly from China.
Trump has long argued that China's ability to flood the US with cheap goods has destroyed American manufacturing.
He plans to impose 60% tariffs on goods imported from China and 10%-20% tariffs on imports from other countries like Ireland.
Kamala Harris opposes Trump's plan to slap tariffs on imported goods, calling it a "national sales tax" on everyday essentials. She said it will cost the average family $4,000 a year, but Trump insists: "It’s my favourite word."
Taxes
Trump
Donald Trump plans to "cut taxes very substantially".
In 2017, President Trump cut income tax, estate tax and gift tax - giving the biggest breaks to wealthier Americans.
If elected he'd extend these cuts, due to expire at the end of 2025.
Trump has also promised to remove tax from tips and social security benefits, a move that would benefit over 70 million Americans.
Harris
The Harris tax plan does the opposite of Trump's tax proposal.
The Democrat would give lower and middle income families (earning $32,800 to $63,000) the largest benefits, while penalising those earning millions.
Kamala Harris says her $6,000 tax credit to parents of newborns would "help buy a crib, a car seat, or baby clothes".
She plans to create jobs by offering a $50,000 tax break to small businesses.
Immigration
Trump
Donald Trump wants to remove 11 million people in the United States without legal papers.
"Just look at what they're doing to our country," he said during his face-off with Kamala Harris in September. "Many of these people coming in are criminals."
He has repeatedly said he will order "a mass deportation" using local police and the national guard. He'd invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to bypass any current laws that protect immigrants.
Harris
Kamala Harris seems wedded Joe Biden's immigration scorecard.
"We have cut the flow of immigrants in half," she recently told CNN, referring to Biden's hastily implemented measures along the border with Mexico.
Unlike Trump, Harris believes Congress can fix the problem. She wants more border guards and judges to deal with asylum claims. "Congress has the authority and the purse," said Harris in a recent interview.
Reproductive rights
Trump
Donald Trump is not specific on what action he'd take on reproductive rights in a second term.
Describing himself as "the most pro-life president in history", he has said he was responsible for reversing Roe v Wade - the 1973 US Supreme Court ruling that protected a woman's right to an abortion.
It was overturned in 2022 with the help of three Trump appointees to the court.
"It's the vote of the people now," Donald Trump said during the September debate with Kamala Harris. His view is that individual states should decide their own abortion laws. Twenty-one states have bans, with few or no exceptions for rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
Debating Kamala Harris, Trump confirmed that he favours exceptions. "85% of Republicans do. Exceptions. Very important."
On that occasion he declined to say if he would veto a national ban on abortion.
Harris
Kamala Harris has committed herself to restoring reproductive freedoms for women across America.
She has promised to veto any attempt by Congress to introduce a national abortion ban.
Israel and the Middle East
Trump
Donald Trump is a staunch supporter of Israel. As president, he moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusulem, in a symbolic ceremony attended by his son-in-law Jared Kushner - who is Jewish.
Trump has promised a swift end to the war in Gaza, but has not elaborated on how he would do this.
Harris
Kamala Harris is also a firm supporter of Israel.
Her husband Doug Emhoff is Jewish. On the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, the couple planted a pomegranate tree - a symbol of the US-Israeli bond.
"I will restate my pledge to always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself," the vice-president said on that occasion.
Harris has condemned the horrors in Gaza, but unlike Joe Biden, is not wedded to a two-state solution.
She has made vague statements about a solution allowing Palestinians to "realise their right to dignity, freedom and self-determination".
Donald Trump has warned that Middle East would "spend the next four decades going up in flames" and that Israel would "cease to exist" in two years if Harris is elected.
Ukraine and Russia
Trump
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky fears a second Trump presidency will deny him the American assistance he needs to eject Russia from Ukrainain territory.
The US has sanctioned $175 billion in aid since the war began, but getting any more will be difficult if Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives.
Donald Trump has vowed to end the war "on day one" and hinted at negotiations that could allow Russia to keep land captured in eastern Ukraine.
Unlike Kamala Harris, Trump would meet with Vladimir Putin with a view to securing such a deal.
Harris
President Zelensky may sleep easier if America elects Kamala Harris. When the two met in September she vowed to "ensure Ukraine prevails in this war".
Kamala Harris has warned that "Putin will be sitting in Kyiv" if Donald Trump returns to power.
Climate and energy
Trump
Climate change is low priority for Donald Trump. As president he took the US out of the Paris Climate Accord, claiming America bore the brunt of reducing emissions.
If returned to the White House, he has promised to cut energy prices in half by increasing US production and decreasing regulation. He has not been a fan of electric cars but his friendship with Elon Musk could change that.
While Kamala Harris will continue with Biden’s Green New Deal to grow renewable energy and jobs, Donald Trump has called it the "green new scam".
Harris
Harris points to Joe Biden's record of earmarking trillions of dollars for renewable energy.
She says she won't ban fracking, but given her previous statements about limiting fracking, Pennsylvanians may be reluctant to trust her on this one.
Kamala Harris will continue with Biden's Green New Deal to grow renewable energy and jobs. Donald Trump has called it the "green new scam".
Project 2025
Trump
Donald Trump dismisses Project 2025, though a number of his policies resemble those advocated by the conservative Republican blueprint for power.
Increased oil production, a national abortion ban, tighter presidential control over government departments and replacing government employees with party loyalists are all included.
"I have nothing to do with Project 2025," Trump said in September. "I haven't read it. I don't want to read it."
Housing
Harris
Like so many young Irish people, young Americans cannot afford to buy a home
Harris made housing a key policy with her promise of $25,000 for first-time buyers - a move that may prove popular.
Retribution against political opponents
Trump
A quick search for "Trump" and "retribution" throws up dozens of quotes on what he would do selected political opponents.
The net is wide, but special mention goes to Mark Zuckerberg who Trump says used Facebook to interfere in the 2020 election.
The candidate has posed that he’d go after election clerks and campaign donors involved in "election fraud".
"WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences." (Truth Social, 7 September 2024)
While some of this may be campaign bluster, the candidate still says the 2020 election was illegally stolen, and that Joe Biden weaponised the US Department of Justice against him.
Four criminal prosecutions were brought against Mr Trump. A New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts in the "hush money" trial.
In the end...
Trump
Though some of his plans have evolved, Donald Trump's policies double down on his first-term agenda.
His winning issue with voters is immigration. His tax cuts will win plenty of votes, but only half of those polled trust that his economic policies will lift all boats.
The biggest threat to a second Trump term is his rhetoric about dismantling American government, Many including Kamala Harris have described his ideas as "authoritarian" and "fascist".
Harris
If Kamala Harris has a superpower in this election, it's her commitment to restoring and protecting a woman's right to chose.
Warnings of steep inflation under Trump tariffs, and Harris's housing grant could help her on the economic front.
The vice-president's gender and race could hinder as much as help her. She'd be America's first woman president and only its second black leader.
Kamala Harris has struggled to break free of Biden's legacy. However if elected, an ambition to forge a distinct path could emerge.
As they say, watch this space.
