At 44, Marco Rubio is the youngest GOP candidate vying for the party’s presidential nomination.

A new poll conducted by Public Policy Polling has Rubio tied with Ted Cruz at 18 percent among South Carolina voters.

With this in mind, Latin Post looks at where Rubio stands on core issues.

Immigration, Border Security

Rubio firmly advocates dealing with flaws he finds in the nation's current immigration system.

According to Rubio's campaign website, if elected president, he would immediately eliminate federal funding for sanctuary cities, deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, and hire 20,000 additional Border Patrol agents.

Rubio would also use high tech solutions to deal with undocumented immigrants by implementing an entry-exit visa tracking system, a mandatory eVerify system, and $4 billion worth of camera and sensor technology along the southern border.

Despite his aim to increase border security, Rubio’s take on immigration is perhaps more nuanced than that of his fellow Republican candidates. He was one of the biggest Republican promoters of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" bill, the controversial legislation that offers undocumented migrants a provisional pathway to U.S. citizenship.

As Latin Post previously reported, Rubio described the "Gang of Eight" bill as a starting point, which would be expanded upon once he had been elected president.

“When I’m president, we’re not doing anything until illegal immigration is under control and we’ve secured our border,” said Rubio.

Taxes

According to the tax section of Rubio's site, under a Rubio administration the current tax model would be simplified to three easily understood brackets: 15 percent (individual: 0-$75,000; joint:0-$150,000), 25 percent (individual: $75,001-$150,000; joint: $150,001-$300,000); and 35 percent (individual: $150,001+; joint: $300,001+).

At a recent campaign stop in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Rubio continued promoting his message of tax reform.

“We will fix our tax code, so it’s no longer the most cumbersome, complex, and complicated and expensive in the developed world, we’re going to cap and limit and roll back the size of federal regulations on our economy," Rubio said at a rally.

Education

Rubio believes America’s higher education system is outdated and broken. Rubio explains on his website how expensive, time consuming and inflexible higher education is, especially for many working adults.

If elected president, Rubio would seek to reduce the complexity of the federal financial aid application and make information pertaining to higher education easily available online.

Rubio would also reduce the financial burden of student loan debt by establishing an Automatic IncomeBased Repayment (IBR) program. The IBR repayment method would empower borrowers to make loan payments in proportion to what they earn, and it would give graduates the option of consolidating existing loans into a simplified IBR system.

Rubio would also like to reform the current academic accreditation system so course work from alternative institutions could be transferable more easily into the traditional college system.

The candidate explained the need for education reform in an opinion piece for the National Review.

“It is time to turn the page on our outdated higher-education system and usher in one better fit for the 21st century -- a system that welcomes and promotes innovative pathways to a degree, one that will close the skills gap by offering financial aid to students who choose alternative providers, and one that allows students to earn credit for the existing skills and training they bring to the classroom,” wrote Rubio.

Healthcare

According to his healthcare platform, Rubio believes ObamaCare is an example of big government interfering with the free market.

The senator wants the government to scale back its role in health care and encourage competition in order to keep medical prices low and inspire innovation.

If elected, Rubio promised he would repeal ObamaCare and replace it with consumer-centered health reforms aimed at expanding coverage and lowering medical costs.

In an opinion piece for Fox News, Rubio outlined three ways in which he would transition ObamaCare into a more conservative framework. The first step would be for the U.S. government to provide a refundable tax credit for citizens who wished to purchase health insurance. The second step would be for insurance regulations to encourage medical innovation. Finally, Rubio would save Medicare and Medicaid by placing both programs on new fiscally sustainable paths.

“These consumer-centered reforms will advance that goal the only way it can be advanced: by channeling the power of our free market,” wrote Rubio.

Gun Rights

Rubio views the Second Amendment as more than just an American right, but as an actual reflection of the nation’s founding values, his campaign website explains.

A gun owner himself, Rubio boasts an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.

As a senator he voted to block the expansion of background checks and pushed to make concealed-carry permits function essentially like driver's licenses, so the rights of gun owners could extend from state to state.

On a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Rubio said he would repeal Obama’s executive orders on guns his first day in office.

"All these executive orders he's gonna come out with tomorrow that are going to undermine our Second Amendment rights -- on my first day in office, they're gone," he said.

Terrorism & Defense

According to Rubio’s terrorism policy plan, the U.S. needs to take the lead when it comes to defeating Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS.

As president, he would accomplish this by working with Arab nation allies to defeat terror groups and destroy their safe havens.

Rubio would build a multinational coalition of countries willing to send troops into Iraq and Syria along with U.S. forces. He would counter ISIS recruitment and propaganda by broadcasting U.S. victories to show ISIS can be beaten.

The candidate’s website also indicates that Rubio would reform the current military benefit structure so high quality personnel are more attracted to military careers.

In a piece for Time, Rubio called for U.S. involvement in regions prone to terror groups.

“The United States is right to intervene in Iraq to provide humanitarian assistance to persecuted religious minorities -- including the Yazidis currently surrounded by ISIS forces in northern Iraq and Iraqi Christians, who have been brutalized as ISIS has swept through their villages, massacring thousands and conducting forced conversions of those they do not kill,” he wrote.

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