Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will battle for the White House on Tuesday.

Harris is the first Black female and first Asian American presidential nominee of a major party in United States history. She hopes to increase affordability, expand access to health care, protect abortion rights and has marketed herself as a more stable leader than Trump – who was indicted on 34 felony counts in May. Trump, the Republican nominee, has drawn attention to high inflation and undocumented border crossings that occurred during the Biden-Harris administration, promising to lower prices and secure the border.

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Polling experts have said the race is one of the closest in American history. A Nov. 2 New York Times poll found that Harris is leading Trump nationally by less than one percentage point, with close races in key battleground states.

Trump is running alongside Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, while Harris’ vice presidential nominee is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

The most important issue to voters this election is the economy, according to the Pew Research Center. Voters are focused on the economy because of a spike in inflation in 2022, said Tara Sinclair, a professor of economics and international affairs at George Washington University and a staffer at the Department of the Treasury from 2022-2024.

“When people go to the grocery store, they still remember what prices were like just a few years ago,” she said. “People really don’t like that.”

While both candidates want to bring down inflation, their proposals for doing so differ significantly. While Trump has advocated for limited government spending and intervention, Harris supports increased government involvement and a stronger social safety net, Sinclair said.

Trump has advocated for slashing the corporate tax rate to stimulate economic growth and productivity, Sinclair said. While it is unclear if this policy will stimulate economic growth, the loss of tax revenue is certain to deepen the federal budget deficit, she added.

Trump is also proposing a 10% and 20% tariff on all goods imported into the United States, alongside a 60% tariff on those from China – a policy Sinclair said economists think could lead to higher prices for Americans.

“It will raise prices, which is what I think people actually see and care about,” she said. “It may be a revenue raiser, but it will be on the backs of Americans.”

Harris plans to raise the corporate tax rate to fund her economic proposals, which seek to increase affordability for lower and middle-income Americans. One of those is expanding the Child Tax Credit – Harris has said she would reinstate its pandemic-era coverage, which is between $1000 to $1600 more than the current credit, something Sinclair said has contributed to lower child poverty rates in the United States.

“When the child tax credit left, child poverty went right back up,” she said. “The evidence is really clear there that this is a very effective way to reduce child poverty.”

Harris labeled her economic plans as attempting to create an “opportunity economy,” including through a $50,000 tax deduction for small businesses’ startup expenses. However, Sinclair said she had doubts about Harris’ claims that the tax would “pay for itself” by stimulating these businesses.

Sinclair also said that many Americans overestimate the role of the president in the economy, adding that Congress makes many decisions regarding fiscal spending. The economy also depends on uncontrollable external factors, such as supply chain issues and the Russia-Ukraine war, she said.

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Voters have also said they view immigration as an important issue in the election.

Hiroshi Motomura, a distinguished professor at UCLA Law, said Harris has adopted a more supportive approach to immigrants – including advocating for the DREAM Act, which would give undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children a path to legal status – while also staying firm on border enforcement.

Unlike Harris, Trump’s immigration policies would aim to remove undocumented immigrants currently within the United States through mass deportations, as well as those trying to enter the country illegally right now, Motomura said.

“The real difference is exemplified by the mass deportation idea, that he wants to be as tough on the inside as on the outside,” he said. “He has no particular, serious interest in any program that, even on some kind of earned basis, allows people to get lawful status.”

Victor Narro, a project director for the UCLA Labor Center, said he believes that voters’ concerns about the border have risen from the demonization of immigrants since Trump’s 2016 campaign, when he promised to build a wall on the southern border. He added that both parties have shifted right on this issue.

Trump attempted to deport more people during his first term, Motomura said, but failed to follow through due to pushback from “sanctuary” states and cities across the United States, which do not comply with federal immigration authorities.

However, Motomura said Trump was successful in slowing down the administrative process of admitting immigrants to the country and decreasing the United States’ refugee quota.

Narro said although Harris has faced criticism for her handling of immigration during her tenure as vice president, he believes the entire federal government plays a role in and should be held accountable for immigration.

[Related: UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy to defend in immigration parole case]

Health care, especially the right to an abortion, is another issue central to the campaign.

Mark Peterson, a senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, said many voters are worried about the high cost of health care, which has partially resulted from the 2022 inflation spike.

“It’s not deciding whether or not you’re going to see a movie, or going to buy that particularly nice meal in the restaurant,” he said. “You may really need something.”

Trump’s most well-known health care position is on abortion, Peterson said, particularly after three Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, striking down the right to an abortion in the United States.

[Related: Hundreds protest in LA against US Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade]

He added that Trump has changed his position on the issue several times, running on a strict anti-abortion platform in 2016 but now advocating for each state to decide on abortion policies.

Harris has always advocated for the right to an abortion, Peterson said. The vice president previously said at a press conference July 24 that she would sign a national law codifying access to abortion if Congress passed it.

Trump ran on a platform of revoking the Affordable Care Act in 2016 but failed to do so during his time in office, Peterson said. While Trump has floated the idea of reversing the ACA again during a second term, Peterson added that it would be extremely unlikely that Republicans in Congress would follow his lead due to the program’s popularity.

Harris, meanwhile, proposed in 2019 to expand the scope of Medicare, which currently only serves people 65 or older and excludes certain benefits such as vision, dental and long-term care, Peterson said. However, she now instead supports strengthening the Affordable Care Act and increasing subsidies to increase access to low-cost private health care, he added.

“Her administration would be very much one of, hold on to the ACA, strengthen the ACA, make the ACA better,” he said. “I think what she is trying to convey, is she, all along, wants every person, every American citizen at least, in this country, to have insurance coverage.”

Harris also wants to expand Medicare to cover long-term care, Peterson said, adding that only about 8% of seniors have private long-term care insurance. Currently, Medicaid only covers long-term care for low-income people, leaving out many middle class Americans who still cannot afford the cost of care, he said.

[Related: UCLA to participate in Medicare initiative to improve care, cut costs]

Women disproportionately bear this burden of providing long-term care for family members, he added.

“Some of the sensible critics of Kamala Harris on this one say, ‘This (long-term care coverage) is really difficult, expensive stuff for people to really live in their homes who have these kinds of needs,’” he said. “That criticism misses the fact that there are a lot of people who probably could get by with 20 hours a week of additional support at home, and at least it would relieve family members so that they don’t become completely drained emotionally and physically.”

Los Angeles residents can vote in person Nov. 5 at the Ackerman Union, Hammer Museum or De Neve Plaza, among other locations across the county. Voters can also submit a vote-by-mail ballot as long as it is postmarked by Election Day.