DeSantis vs. Trump: How Do They Differ On Policy?

Our aim here is to highlight, to the best of our ability, the policy similarities and differences between the two frontrunners for the Republican nomination — Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. So far in this campaign cycle, many commentators have focused on DeSantis and Trump's leadership styles rather than their policy differences.

Here's an example: Some political commentators argue that DeSantis is the better candidate because he has a less combative style and he may be able to work through the bureaucracy more efficiently. Others, however, have argued that Trump is the better candidate to carry out an America First agenda, as he is not a traditional politician and his bombastic style often works in his favor.

These are fine arguments for each candidate, but our agenda with this article is different. Rather than take sides or focus on each candidate's style, we are looking here at substance: Is there a difference between what Trump and DeSantis believe? If so, on what issues? In what areas do they think most alike?

This Upward+ breakdown will help you parse through some of these answers. Our goal is not to advocate for one candidate over another, but simply to aggregate both candidates' stances on the most important issues to voters. We'll start with these five issues: crime, immigration, foreign policy, culture, and the economy.

Crime

Trump has taken tougher stances on crime during his 2024 campaign, calling for the deployment of the National Guard to cities with crime issues, and has released a seven-point plan that includes a return to stop-and-frisk, investments in police, and taking on “radical Marxist prosecutors.” As President, Trump's Attorney General took steps to crack down on drug-related charges and drug dealers. Until the riots of 2020, Trump's presidency led to an overall reduction in violent crime rates.

DeSantis has used crime as an issue to distinguish himself from Trump. On The Ben Shapiro Show, DeSantis calledTrump's 2018 criminal justice reform bill, the First Step Act, “basically a jailbreak bill” that he would repeal. Trump's “First Step Act” was overwhelmingly passed by Democrats and Republicans in 2018. The bill reduced certain prison charge time lengths, particularly for drug charges, and allowed for new ways for well-behaved inmates to hasten their release.

The bill led to the release of many violent criminals — including sex offenders — who, in many instances, were quickly sent back to jail for cases including murder and assault. In 2022, Trump told reporters that he “did it for African Americans,” referring to his reasoning for passing the bill, but reportedly regrets some of his more soft-on-crime policies.

Trump's campaign has accused DeSantis of changing his views on the First Step Act, as DeSantis voted for an earlier version of the bill when he was in Congress. DeSantis resigned to run for Governor before he could vote on the final version of the bill, but his campaign has maintained that the version he voted in favor of was not similar to the final passed First Step Act.

DeSantis has cited his tough record on crime in campaign speeches, highlighting Florida's harsher penalties for fentanyl dealers, more robust bail requirements, and his mandate of the death penalty for convicted pedophiles. He had also shut down protests and passed anti-rioting bills during Black Lives Matter—Florida saw significantly less destruction seen in other cities including the capital. While DeSantis has said that he has presided over a 50-year low in Florida's crime, Trump retorted in a statement that “Florida ranked Third Worst in Murder, Third Worst in Rape, and Third Worst in Aggravated Assault.”

Immigration

Since he came down the escalator in 2015, Trump has made immigration a central issue in his campaigns — particularly illegal immigration. He promised to build a wall, stop illegal crossings, and deal with criminal gang networks. Trump enforced US immigration laws on the books and took some of the hardest stances on immigration during his tenure.

On Monday, Trump released a statement promising to go further by ending birthright citizenship, re-implementing the travel ban, pausing refugee admissions, and blocking grants to sanctuary cities — all by executive orders.

DeSantis — and others — have criticized Trump for not finishing the proposed wall during his presidency. Trump has hit DeSantis in return for voting against a bill in 2018 that would have allocated billions toward a physical border wall. DeSantis, however, said his nay vote was cast in opposition to the bill provision that would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, an idea that Trump once said he could eventually get behind.

In Florida, Ron DeSantis recently signed an E-Verify bill aimed at cracking down on undocumented immigration and ensuring that only legal workers are employed in the state. He has presided over the strongest illegal immigration crackdown in the nation.

Both candidates have had little to say in recent months about reducing overall legal immigration numbers. However, Trump's campaign has included plans to suspend chain migration, visa lottery, and non-essential foreign workers.

Economy

On Trade, as a Congressman, DeSantis voted in favor of then-President Obama's ability to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a global free trade deal that would have reduced America's trade sovereignty, which Trump opposed in his 2016 run for the White House and ultimately killed.

Trump was, and remains, very protectionist on trade issues. He re-negotiated the historic USMCA bill to make trade between the US, Canada, and Mexico more fair, and slapped tariffs on China to protect U.S. industry. Amid Trump's tariff fight with China in 2018, DeSantis told Fox Business that “I’m not somebody that advocates tariffs. I mean, I want to have lower barriers and I want to have free trade.”

DeSantis has stated his opposition to offshoring American jobs to countries like China. At home, DeSantis has banned the Chinese from purchasing land in Florida, a policy Trump has voiced support for.

Both candidates have opposed wokeness and ESG agendas of multinational corporations. In 2020, the Trump Administration issued a rule against ESG investments, which has since been scrapped by Biden. DeSantis has taken a number of actions against companies overstepping their boundaries in the state of Florida, from his fight with Disney to banning the use of public money in ESG funds. Even so, Trump has criticized some of DeSantis' actions against Disney as extreme, while DeSantis has defended them as fundamentally America First policies.

On Social Security and Medicare, Trump has attacked DeSantis for voting for “massive cuts in Social Security and Medicare” during his time in Congress. Instead, Trump said in a statement that “under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.” DeSantis, despite a past vote to increase the retirement age, has said “We’re not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans.”

DeSantis and Trump have both been willing to take on unorthodox or controversial economic topics. DeSantis, for example, recently prohibited a Central Bank digital currency in the state of Florida. Trump has explored the idea of building 'Freedom Cities' on federal land that he says could innovate and compete for new industries.

Foreign Policy

President Trump fundamentally changed the Republican Party on foreign policy. The first president in decades to not start a foreign war, Trump instead brokered peace, from the historic Abraham Accords to unprecedented talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

During his presidency, Trump took fairly tough stances on Russia and signed bills that armed Ukraine. Trump took on globalist groups like NATO, arguing other European countries should pay their fair share and defend themselves. Both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis support Israel. During Trump's presidency, he moved the Israeli capital to Jerusalem.

In his recent book, Ron DeSantis hinted at a foreign policy agenda modeled after Trump's. He derided the neoconservative push for endless war during previous Republican administrations and took a hawkish stance toward China. As a congressman, DeSantis opposed arming Syrian rebels against Bashar al-Assad and opposed a US-backed regime change there as early as 2013.

DeSantis also billed himself as “tough on Russia” and supported arming Ukraine. He has called Putin a “war criminal,” which Trump refused to do, but maintains that “becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of” America's vital interests. Both candidates favor a robust military and have taken hard-line stances on rogue nations like Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba.

Culture

On abortion, Donald Trump has said that post-Dobbs, he views the issue as a state-level decision, but has pointed voters back to his pro-life appointments to the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade. Reports say that President Trump worried that overturning Roe vs. Wade was a political disaster for Republicans, which some say was at least partly the case during the 2022 midterms.

By contrast, Ron DeSantis sees both federal and state-level regulations as appropriate to ensure pro-life policies, without fully committing to federal limits. As Governor, Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban, with exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother.

As President, Donald Trump tackled some education issues, like presenting the '1776 Report' as an alternative to the anti-racist 1619 Project being taught in school curriculums. During his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to go further by ending “critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children.”

In Florida, DeSantis has already put many of these words into action, though, with historic reforms to Florida schools including banning progressive and sexually explicit materials in classrooms, expanding school choice, and reforminghigher education.

Conclusion

Both DeSantis and Trump are heterodox political figures — they, in their own ways, diverge from the Republican establishment, and, on some issues, each other. President Trump’s political instinct forged a new era of conservatism and a vision for America.

Along with it came promises and initiatives to make the vision a reality, although much of it never came to fruition. DeSantis is a product of that vision; he shed his neoconservative roots to champion Trump’s America First credo, with an effective state-level strategy for implementing those ideas.