Introduction to Issue Position Research
Reason for Issue Position Research
The Issue Position process starts with the Political Courage Test - a questionnaire that Vote Smart sends to candidates asking them to give their issue positions on 16 major political questions. When a candidate fills out the test, their answers populate three different Vote Smart tools:
1. The candidate's "Positions" page on the website: https://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/22421
2. Vote Easy - Our candidate matching tool: https://voteeasy.votesmart.org/
However, only ~25% of Congressional candidates take the PCT (based off of recent years). Voters are still interested in where their candidates stand on the issues, so we go ahead and research how candidates would answer these questions. When candidates fail to take the PCT, these researched determinations act as a substitute on the three tools mentioned above. This research is our answer to candidates failing to provide citizens with their stances on the key issues. We use their public record to divine where they stand on the issue. Therefore, it is especially important that the research is comprehensive and evidence based.
End Goal of Issue Position Research:
To construct strong and defensible determinations of politicians' positions on the questions posed by the Political Courage test.
