Hot Topics to Decide on for the Upcoming Presidential Election

The presidential election coming up this November promises to be one of the biggest elections in recent memory.

The debates will no doubt be heated between President Barack Obama and either Republican nominee Mitt Romney,

the former Massachusetts governor, or Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator.

Of course, there are several issues that will be heavily contested between the candidates such as the economy, health care, immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion and foreign policy.

So to make things easier for everyone to decide whether or not they want to vote for Obama or the Republican nominee, let’s take a look at the hot topics that they’ll be discussing.

Back in 2008, not too long before the presidential election, the economy fell into a giant pit, which resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs. The unemployment numbers skyrocketed and many families had to foreclose their homes. What the candidates will have to discuss is how to manage the federal government’s $14 trillion debt. This issue and creating jobs will more than likely decide the race for the White House.

The candidates will not only have to discuss how they’ll manage the debt, but what’s the plan to improve it?

Will they raise taxes? Will they cut spending? This subject won’t be solved overnight, and it’ll probably take several years to get the economy back on track again. The main issue is what type of plan will be proposed and implemented to improve the current situation.

If the economy is the most important issue on the table, then health care should be a close second.

In 2010, Obama signed into law the Affordable Health Care Act after it passed through Congress. Since he did that, critics have said that the bill has cost taxpayers too much money and that it’s unconstitutional to force American citizens to pay for health care, which has led the health care bill to be decided on by the U.S. Supreme Court as to whether or not it’s unconstitutional.

Another issue is many Republicans are pushing to get the bill repealed or replaced altogether.

The Republican candidates are going to have to decide what would be better for the American people. If Romney or Santorum become president, will they really repeal the health care bill? If so, what’s their alternative plan? Can they make a bill that they believe will be more affordable with low premiums? When it comes to Obama, he needs to figure out how to fix the parts of the bill that are considered unconstitutional.

Plus, he’ll need to figure out how to keep funding this bill, and how to prevent the cost of it from rising.

The next issue up for discussion is immigration. Currently, there are thousands of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The main concern is border control and security, especially at the Mexican border where there has been escalating violence in recent years.

The reasoning for this is because Mexico has had numerous instances of violence that involves the drug cartel and the government. The violence has raised eyebrows in Washington, D.C., and has led politicians to protect Americans by shutting down the border and deporting immigrants who are not in America legally.

Obama believes in border control and improved security, but he also believes that some immigrants should be given a legal path to obtain citizenship. In fact, he supports the DREAM Act, which would give illegal residents who came to the U.S. before they turned 16 a chance to become legal residents only if they met certain conditions.

Romney has also showed support for some immigrants in the past, such as highly educated ones, but he also said the borders need to be secured as well. Santorum is against the government giving services to illegal immigrants and has voted in favor of building fences along the U.S/Mexican border.

Overall, the main issue here is how the candidates will approach immigration. Will they give illegal residents a chance to become legal, or will they shut down the borders and kick them out? One of the biggest topics to rise up over the last decade or so is the support of same-sex marriage. Once upon a time, many Republicans were completely against same-sex marriage, but in the last few years they’ve begun to accept it.

Even Obama, who’s very liberal, has flip-flopped on this issue.

In fact, Obama even supported a decision made in a California court that made same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

However, his mind is changing as last year he supported the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which gives federal recognition of same-sex marriages performed under state law.

When it comes to Romney and Santorum, they are traditionalists and believe that there should be one law defining marriage. Santorum has gone as far as signing a traditional marriage pledge.

The key issue here is whether not the candidates will either fully back same sex marriage or not support it at all. A clear stance on this issue will be very important in November, and could either cost or earn more votes for each candidate.

Abortion has been a hot topic for many years now. It’s an issue that doesn’t have a clear-cut explanation, but in fact is more personal. Many politicians fought over this topic about the language in the bill during the huge Congressional struggle over health care reform.

Obama’s stance is he opposes any constitutional change to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. Romney on the other hand has been described as pro-life, but hasn’t been consistent on the topic in general.