Running Mates on the Issues
Positions on all issues are not available for all candidates
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate
U.S. Senator from Delaware
Sarah Palin
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate
Governor of Alaska
Abortion
“Strongly” supports Roe v. Wade, but opposes public funding for abortion. Voted yes to a federal ban on so-called partial-birth abortions. Voted against parental notification for minors who get out-of-state abortions.
Supported bills to outlaw late-term abortions and to require parental consent for abortions in Alaska. Gave birth this year to a son with Down syndrome, her fifth child, saying that she had known about the disability beforehand but would not abort the pregnancy. Is a member of an anti-abortion organization called Feminists for Life.
Death Penalty
Supports death penalty “as a crime-fighting technique.”
On her campaign Web site, said: “If the Legislature passed a death penalty law, I would sign it. We have a right to know that someone who rapes and murders a child or kills an innocent person in a drive-by shooting will never be able to do that again.”
Domestic Wiretapping
Has called the warrantless wiretapping program authorized by President George W. Bush “unconstitutional” and “an illegal expansion of presidential power.”
Energy
Wants to create a five-year, $50 billion project for energy and climate change that would finance research into discovering alternative energy sources and developing technologies. Opposes domestic drilling, both offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying that Alaska was brought into the United States for its resources; Mr. McCain has opposed drilling. Signed a bill to create a “Renewable Energy Fund” in Alaska, where residents are heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
Same-Sex Marriage
Opposes same-sex marriage but supports civil unions. Opposes constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Says he supports the same federal employee benefits for same-sex couples as for married couples but voted yes on the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples and allowed states to ignore same-sex marriages sanctioned by another state.
Supported a 1998 Alaska constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
Guantánamo Bay
Wants to close prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, restore habeas corpus and try detainees in federal courts, not military tribunals. Co-sponsored bill that would release all prisoners who have not been charged (nearly all of them). Anyone charged would be moved to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Gun Control
Introduced bill to renew ban on assault weapons and to close the so-called gun-show loophole by requiring gun show sales to have background checks.
Is an avowed supporter of the right to bear arms, a member of the National Rifle Association and a rifle hunter of Alaskan game.
Health Care
Wants to insure all under age 21, allow families to buy into State Children’s Health Insurance Program, cover children in families up to three times the poverty level ($61,950 for family of four), create a pool of private plans similiar to that for federal workers, reimburse employers and insurers for 75 percent of costs above $50,000 a person and lower Medicare eligibility age to 55.
Supports competition in health care, and laws allowing patients access to better information about prices. In 2008, said she was considering incentives for employers to provide insurance, based on the free market. Says reform must also include “Alaskans choosing to take more personal responsibility” to be healthier.
Immigration
Supports a path to legalization for illegal immigrants that includes learning English and paying fines. Wants to toughen penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants. Would create a guest worker program.
Iraq
Voted for the 2002 resolution authorizing the Iraq war, but now says that was a mistake. He wrote in his 2007 book: “I made a mistake. I underestimated the influence of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the neocons.” Opposed 2007 troop buildup in Iraq, and last September, proposed withdrawing most forces from Iraq by the summer of 2008, while leaving a small force behind to combat terrorism and train Iraqis.
Supports the troop buildup in Iraq. In the vice-presidential debate, she said that there need not be an early withdrawal of troops, and that "we'll know when we're finished in Iraq when the Iraqi government can govern its people and when the Iraqi security forces can secure its people."
Iran
Supports direct engagement with Iran “to exploit fissures within the government and between the government and the people.” Called for “hard-headed diplomacy” with “coordinated international sanctions,” adding, “We should complement this pressure by presenting a positive vision for U.S.-Iran relations if Iran does the right thing.”
In response to a debate question on engagement with enemies, she said that she supports diplomacy, but some dictators "who would try to destroy what we stand for cannot be met with just sitting down on a presidential level, as Barack Obama had said he would be willing to do."
Judicial Nominations
Would make sure that his nominees for the Supreme Court “shared his values” and understood “that there is a right to privacy in the United States Constitution.”
Social Security
Opposes private savings accounts. Supports lifting the ceiling on Social Security payroll taxes, currently $102,000 a year.
Promised in her 2006 campaign to restore a program that paid up to $250 to elderly people who had lived in Alaska before statehood in 1959; signed a bill that pays up to $250 a month to low-income elderly. When asked about Social Security in an ABC News interview, discussed finding “efficiencies” in government programs but did not cite Social Security specifically.
Taxes
Wants to repeal the Bush tax cuts for top 1 percent of earners, extend middle-class cuts and freeze estate taxes at 2009 levels. Supports overhauling alternative minimum tax for the middle class but has voted against full repeal.
Proposed suspending the state's gasoline tax this year. Proposed giving every Alaskan a $1,200 check from state accounts that were bulging with windfall revenues from the state's tax on oil production.
