Have you started tuning out the election? Are you too tired of the drama to muster the strength to watch a debate, let alone do some election homework? Have you given up trying to decipher the truth?

I can’t say I blame you. This election has been exhausting to say the least. It seems that we have spent so much time focusing on our candidates’ personalities (though important), that we have often forgotten to also focus on the facts and their individual political platforms.

So what are their platforms, and what have they actually said and done?

If you’re cramming last minute for the election, take a look at this cheat-sheet study guide for some great resources to get the facts. I’ve done my best to cover topics that I feel people might like more concrete information on, but this is just a start – I encourage everyone to continue digging. It may not be fun or glamorous, but it’s important to find the time to simply examine our candidates’ backgrounds and policies.

Without further ado…

Taxes:

If you would like a closer and comprehensive look at what each candidates’ tax plans are (along with helpful info on how our tax system even works, because it’s complicated), then this video is a great start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgicDQHbV3M. You can also look at their individual websites (https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/tax-plan and https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/a-fair-tax-system/ ).

You can take a look at Clinton’s tax returns here: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/page/tax-returns/. Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns; though not required, he is the first republican nominee to neglect to do so since Richard Nixon. We also know that Trump has avoided paying federal income taxes on several occasions by taking advantage of some deductions. Here is a good article to read about this issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?_r=0.

The Iraq War:

I’ve got some bad news: both Hillary and Trump supported the war in Iraq, so no matter who is elected we will have a President who made that particular mistake. It is worth noting that while they both initially supported the war, Hillary was the only one in Congress and so the only one of the two who actually voted for it. Both Clinton and Trump evolved their views as the general public did and later came to denounce the war as a mistake.

Trump has repeatedly denied that he supported the war in Iraq, but you can listen to the audio of him voicing his (albeit tentative) support here: http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/donald-trump-support-iraq-war-audio/. This is also a very comprehensive and balanced article exploring the evolution of his views on the Iraq war: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/every-position-donald-trump-iraq. Hillary has been open about the fact that she voted for the Iraq war and has since apologized.

Benghazi:

Benghazi has become a buzzword with very little substance. If you are still unclear as to what actually happened in Benghazi in 2012, I recommend watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btlqXbH1mCM. It is relatively impartial and gives a full low-down of events. If you have the time, energy, and interest, you can read the actual final report on the Benghazi tragedy investigation here: http://benghazi.house.gov/NewInfo.

The Environment:

Hillary Clinton believes that global warming is real and poses a threat to society. Her website has laid out several measures designed to combat climate change, including installing half a billion solar panels in her first term, working to eradicate lead poisoning, and reducing American oil consumption by a third (https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/climate/).

Donald Trump’s position on climate change is rather unclear. He has denied that he ever called climate change a hoax invented by the Chinese, but you can view his tweet saying exactly that here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/. His staffers seem to have trouble making up for this discrepancy as well: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-climate-change-tweet_us_57eac24ae4b0c2407cda033a (the Huffington Post is not necessarily the least biased source, but most of this article is simply a transcript of interviews with individuals from the Trump campaign). His campaign has since shifted, saying that Trump believes that climate change is naturally occurring, and not impacted by humans (http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/politics/donald-trump-climate-change-kellyanne-conway/). There is no page of Trump’s website dedicated to climate change, but he does have a page on energy: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/energy/. Here he does mention the desire to protect clean water and clean air, although he never mentions “climate change” or “global warming”.

Women’s issues:

While truly every issue that affects the human race is a "women’s issue", let’s look at a few topics that affect women in particular: maternity/family leave, childcare, and issues surrounding abortion.

Trump has put forth a plan that includes six weeks of paid maternity leave for mothers. Clinton’s plan calls for up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for both of the child’s parents as well as up to 12 weeks of paid medical leave for serious injuries and illnesses (https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/child-care, https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/paid-leave/).

Along with other things, Trump would like to allow parents to enroll in tax-free dependent care savings accounts for their children (and elderly relatives), as well as letting working parents deduct child care expenses from their income taxes for up to four children and elderly dependents. Clinton has a different plan that includes making preschool universal for four-year-olds, ensuring that families don’t pay more than 10% of their yearly income on childcare expenses, increasing child care access on college campuses, and quite a bit more. (The info for Trump’s plan is on the same page as his maternity leave info. To see more on Clinton’s childcare/early education policies, read here: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/early-childhood-education/).

A large topic of discussion at the last debate was that of abortion, particularly those of late-term and “partial birth”. When having this conversation, it is important to recognize that almost all late-term abortions have to do with either the mother’s health or birth defects that make the fetus incompatible with life (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/term-and-partial-birth-abortions-the-mythical-arch-nemeses-of-the-anti-choice-movement_us_580d4427e4b02444efa3f33a, http://www.vox.com/2016/10/19/13341532/abortion-9-months-trump).

Clinton plans to uphold Roe V. Wade (which guarantees a woman’s right to abortion) and continue the fight to keep abortion clinics accessible, along with funding Planned Parenthood. Trump stated at the final debate that he would nominate and elect Supreme Court justices who would look to overturn Roe V Wade.

Race & The Criminal Justice System:

The Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter ideologies (if that’s what we can call them) is one of the most divided and contested issues in our nation at the moment. With incarceration rates having increased 500% in the last 40 years (disproportionately affecting POC), and videos surfacing of police officers killing unarmed black people, race and the criminal justice system are at the center of attention at the moment.

Hillary has a bit of a shady past in this department; she once referred to theoretical young black offenders as “super-predators” and supported the Crime Bill of 1994, which has since been denounced by many as discriminatory and disastrous for poor black communities (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36020717). She has since apologized for both of these things. Currently, she plans to disrupt what is known as the "school to prison pipeline", end the privatization of prisons, reform mandatory minimum sentencing, and help to fund body cameras for every police department across the country. You can see much more on her website: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/criminal-justice-reform/.

Donald certainly also has a shady past when it comes to issues surrounding race. In 1973, the federal government sued Trump for discriminating against black people in his housing developments (http://www.npr.org/2016/09/29/495955920/donald-trump-plagued-by-decades-old-housing-discrimination-case). He also took out a full page ad in 1989 calling for the death penalty to be instated for who have become known as the Central Park Five – five teenage boys (four black and one hispanic) who were wrongly accused of raping a white woman and whose story has been remembered as a prime example of racial bias within the criminal justice system (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/17/central-park-five-donald-trump-jogger-rape-case-new-york). Trump has been criticized for referring to Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “bad hombres”, and at one point in his campaign advocated for banning all Muslims from entering the United States. He has now advertised himself as the “law and order” candidate, aligning himself with the All Lives Matter community (once again, if that’s the right word) as well as the type of rhetoric that defended the War on Drugs. (Info on this: https://psmag.com/where-do-the-presidential-candidates-stand-on-police-shootings-8aadb0f7f470#.xyk0u6e1y, http://www.wtsp.com/news/politics/trump-declares-h...).

Health Care:

We can start understanding our two candidates’ platforms by simply looking at their websites (https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/health-care/ and https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/health-care/ ). However, both of these websites obviously paint their positions in the most positive light possible.

Looking for a more impartial analysis? Once again, the Vlogbrothers come through. Here is another comprehensive video on the two candidates’ policies, this time surrounding health care. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3mYrOnq2Z4 (the description of this video also links to some helpful resources). Healthcare Triage also has a great video discussing the pros and cons of each of their plans:

And here is a great site where you can see their proposals side by side: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/interactives/2016/sep/comparing-candidates-health-proposals/.

Overall, experts agree that Hillary Clinton’s plan would increase the number of insured people in the US as well as reduce the average consumer’s out-of-pocket spending on health insurance, while Donald Trump’s plan would lead to a decrease in the number of insured people in the US while increasing average out-of-pocket spending on health insurance (http://www.rand.org/blog/2016/09/estimating-the-impacts-of-the-trump-and-clinton-health.html).

The Debates:

If you are wondering how truthful each of them were during the debates, here are some sites that fact-checked what they had to say.

1^st debate: http://www.npr.org/2016/09/26/495115346/fact-check-first-presidential-debate, http://www.factcheck.org/2016/09/factchecking-the-first-debate/

2^nd debate: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/09/us/elections/fact-check-debate.html?_r=0, http://www.factcheck.org/2016/10/factchecking-the-second-presidential-debate/

3^rd (and final) debate: http://www.npr.org/2016/10/19/498293478/fact-check-trump-and-clinton-s-final-presidential-debate

Alright, time for the debunking portion. I constantly see false accusations of both candidates online, so I thought I would address the most common here.

Common false rumors about Donald:

-He was photographed with his parents wearing KKK robes: http://www.snopes.com/donald-trumps-parents-kkk/

-In 1998 Trump called Republicans the “dumbest group of voters”: http://www.snopes.com/1998-trump-people-quote/

Common false rumors about Hillary:

-She freed a child rapist and then laughed about it: http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-freed-child-rapist-laughed-about-it/

-She helped cover Bill’s rape allegations: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/11/hillary-clinton-bill-accusers-jones-willey-broaddrick (this one is complicated; the main takeaway is that though we can’t know whether or not the assault accusations against Bill Clinton are true, there is little to no evidence to support the idea that Hillary has purposefully intimidated or silenced his accusers.)

-She was “nowhere to be seen” on 9/11: http://www.snopes.com/2016/10/13/giuliani-apologizes-for-false-911-criticism-of-hillary-clinton/

Every form of media is biased, and I can’t pretend to be an exception. I will say, though, that if being presented with actual facts feels like persuasion in favor of a particular candidate, then that may simply say something about that candidate’s legitimacy. If the facts feel biased against your candidate of choice, then that may be something to examine further.

We only have a couple more weeks until this god forsaken election is over. Hopefully this is a helpful resource to get you through, and to help you feel more informed before you vote on November 8^th.

In the meantime, happy cramming!