Both consider health care, education, deficit reduction, tax cuts and Social Security as crucial issues for the country. In some of these areas, the proposals of the two candidates are fairly similar, says Owen, who is an associate professor of economics.

On education and trade, they both recognize the important problems with the systems and have somewhat similar plans to addressing them. For example, both support job training for the unemployed and taking actions directed at helping small businesses.

Their relative similarities on these issues contrast with what Owen calls "philosophical differences" in other areas.

Lowering Health Costs

On the issue of health care, the candidates' positions reflect such a fundamental difference, Owen says. Bush's plan to address the rising costs of health care is consumer and market-driven. He hopes to create lower prices through market competition and choice.

Meanwhile, Kerry wants to fix the problem of high premiums by having a health care plan that allows costs to be distributed more widely among more people. Each of the candidates has a plan to address one part of the problem, according to Owen.

Bush and Kerry's differences on Social Security and Medicare come from different conceptions of what the goals of these programs should be, Owen says.

Privatization of Social Security

Social Security currently functions not only as a forced savings account for retirement, but also as a safety net for poor seniors.

Bush's plan to potentially privatize Social Security with personal retirement accounts only addresses the forced savings goal of the program, Owen says. There are other ways Social Security might be reformed, she suggests -- such as raising the retirement age or lowering the cap on Social Security taxes.

Another area of difference between the two candidates concerns taxation and decreasing the deficit.

Kerry's plan includes rolling back the tax cuts for the richest portion of the population to pay down the deficit and finance spending, while Bush's plan is to maintain the current tax cuts and hope that they will stimulate the economy.

If the goal is to stimulate the economy through tax cuts, Owen says, Kerry's plan to emphasize tax cuts for the middle and lower classes might be better, in that these groups will spend a much higher percentage of whatever income they have than the very rich will.

Owen also says that the "PayGo" plan that Kerry has talked about is something that we will "just have to do." According to Owen however, both candidates will have to change their plans on taxation and the deficit to make them work properly, she says.