The most important distinction between the two candidates for the White House is that Vice President Kamala Harris is committed to democracy and the rule of law and Donald Trump is not. It’s a race that is, fundamentallyptwin, about who has the right temperament and is fit to be the next president, and the answer is not in question.
Consider, for instance, Liz Cheney’s endorsement last week of Ms. Harris. Ms. Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman, supports the vice president even though she disagrees with many, perhaps most, of Ms. Harris’s policy positions. “As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris,” she said. Her father, Dick Cheney, a former vice president and fellow lifelong conservative, followed suit the next day.
Yet policy matters, too. And voters have been clear that they are less interested in debates about the future of democracy than they are in the matters of governance that affect their everyday lives.
For many voters, the defining issue in this year’s election is the high cost of living. They are outraged by the prices of familiar items at the grocery store. Their dreams of owning a home have slipped beyond reach. When Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris take the stage for Tuesday night’s debate, Americans will be weighing which candidate is more likely to improve his or her fortunes and prospects.
Neither candidate can quickly deliver a big cut in the cost of housing, food, gas or any other significant expense American households pay each month. That kind of change is beyond a president’s power. But the choice for voters still is straightforward: Ms. Harris has begun to describe thoughtful plans that could help American families to better afford the things they need and want. Mr. Trump has offered bad ideas and promises that he can’t keep.
The candidates’ proposals to address the high price of housing, the average family’s biggest expense, highlight their differences. Ms. Harris has proposed a target of building three million new homes and described policies to move toward that goal, including tax incentives for builders, financial support for buyers and ways to encourage local governments to allow more housing to be built. Mr. Trump says he’ll lower prices by deporting undocumented immigrants — a notion that ignores the research showing that reducing the number of immigrants actually could have the opposite effect of raising prices because it would reduce the ranks of construction workers.
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