Clinton vs. Trump: Who Is More Tech-Friendly?
If nothing else, the 2016 U.S. presidential race has been a radical case study in stark contrasts: When your two main choices are an establishment career politician and a disruptive reality TV star, it’s hard to imagine many American voters still haven’t made up their minds. But for rank-and-file tech workers who care about policies that directly affect their industry, it’s easy why you might feel passed over this election season, especially now that both parties have officially announced their nominees. Neither Democrat Hillary Clinton nor Republican Donald Trump has made tech a major platform issue on the campaign trail so far, and neither candidate seems to have a consistent or well-defined stance on some of the biggest issues facing the tech sector. In fact, both nominees have repeatedly demonstrated a distinct lack of technical competence, whether it was Clinton conducting government business on a private email server or Trump suggesting that the way to defeat ISIS is to simply “close up” parts of the Internet. Such stumbles only create more uncertainty for tech pros hoping that the next president will confidently steer the digital economy toward a prosperous future. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on the question of which candidate might execute the most tech-friendly policies. “I’m going to call it a tossup at the moment—largely unknowable,” said Jeff Eisenach, a tech policy expert and visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a pro-business research group in Washington. Eisenach, who favors Trump, said he thinks the business mogul would be a better choice when it comes to clamping down on regulations that might hinder some of the fastest-growing tech companies. He cites recent battles fought by Uber in Democratic strongholds such as New York and Austin, Texas, where local officials have called for stricter background checks for ride-sharing companies. Assuming a Clinton administration would favor a regulatory environment consistent with much of the Democratic Party, Eisenach said a Clinton victory could spell trouble for companies that depend on a freewheeling, hassle-free gig economy. “It’s Democrats who are going after the Airbnbs and Ubers of the world and protecting the incumbent hotel and taxi companies,” Eisenach said. “I don’t mean to be casting stones here, but I think that’s an accurate characterization.” Yet regulation is only part of the story, and Eisenach concedes that Clinton would likely be a more tech-friendly candidate when it comes to free trade. Tech companies operate globally, after all, and Trump has made fierce anti-globalization rhetoric a cornerstone of his campaign. “On foreign trade issues, you’d probably have to give the nod to Hillary on balance,” Eisenach said. “She seems to be more of a free trader than Trump, who seems to be—if you take him at his word—quite a protectionist.”