Technological innovation has long been and will continue to be critically important to both income growth and national competitiveness. So it is important that we examine the 2016 presidential candidates’ policy agendas through that lens.
In each of the last two presidential elections, ITIF has released a report examining the two major candidates’ positions on a host of technology and innovation policy issues. While the 2016 election has proven to be unusual in many ways, one manifestation is that third-party candidates appear to have more support than normal, particularly the Libertarian Party nominee, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson. As of this writing, however, both Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein are polling well below the minimum threshold required to participate in the official presidential debates, so ITIF is focusing its analysis on the two major-party candidates, Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Republican businessman Donald Trump.
