Are you looking for a nonpartisan voter guide to the Nathan Deal vs. Jason Carter Governor's race? One that will give you an unbiased, no-spin comparison of candidate positions on key issues? That's what our Campus Election Engagement Project guide will give you! We are a national nonpartisan initiative working with college and university administrators, faculty, and student leaders to increase student participation in America's elections. For the 2014 elections we have created and distributed voter guides to campuses in more than 20 states so they can provide their communities with accurate information for informed voting. Because these guides have been so well received and are useful for all voting citizens who want to be better informed, we are also posting them here.
We developed our guides by analyzing information from trusted resources such as www.votesmart.org, www.ontheissues.org, www.ballotpedia.com, www.politifact.com, www.factcheck.org, www.vote411.org and from candidate websites, public debates and interviews, and statements in major media outlets. We also showed them to groups like campus Young Republicans and Young Democrats at the schools we work with to verify their fairness and lack of bias.
So here are the issue-by-issue stands for Nathan Deal and Jason Carter, with additional links at the bottom for each candidate if you'd like to dig deeper. (You can also find Georgia's Senate guide here.)
----------
Education: Do you support increasing funding for K-12 education?
Deal: Continued major austerity cuts in first three years, now partially restoring. (See Politifact.com analyses of both GOP claims and Carter campaign claims regarding Deal's K-12 funding record.)
Carter: Yes
Education: Do you support the effort to standardize and increase school standards under the Common Core initiative?
Deal: No
Carter: Yes
Education: Do you support providing vouchers to parents to send their children to private schools with public money?
Deal: Yes
Carter: No
Education: Do you support increasing funding for higher education?
Deal: Yes. Also proposes funding schools on graduation rates as well as on enrollment
Carter: Yes
Elections: Do you support requiring registered voters to present a photo-ID in order to vote?
Deal: Yes
Carter: No. Successfully challenged cost of voter IDs.
Elections: Do you support increasing restrictions on campaign donations?
Deal: Mostly no. (Supports requiring disclosure of lobbyists' bundled contribution and limits on and disclosure of grassroots political committee contributions. But simultaneously supports legislation that allows unlimited and undisclosed contributions from corporate trade associations and party PACS.)
Carter: Yes
Environment: Do you believe that human activity is a major factor contributing to climate change?
Deal: No
Carter: Implied by stands, but direct statements hard to find.
Environment: Do you support taking government action to limit the levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere?
Deal: No
Carter: Unknown
Environment: Do you support government mandates and/or subsidies for renewable energy?
Deal: No
Carter: Has sponsored legislation to ease barriers to renewable energy installations, unclear stance on mandates.
Gay Marriage: Do you support gay marriage?
Deal: No
Carter: Yes
Gun Control: Do you support enacting more restrictive gun control legislation?
Deal: No
Carter: No
Healthcare: Do you support the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?
Deal: No
Carter: Yes
Healthcare: Should your state accept federal funds so Medicaid will cover people earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line?
Deal: No. Opted out of Medicaid expansion.
Carter: Yes
Marijuana: Do you support efforts to decriminalize and/or legalize marijuana?
Deal: Supports medical marijuana
Carter: Supports medical marijuana
Minimum Wage: Do you support raising the minimum wage?
Deal: No
Carter: Unknown
Social Issues: Should abortion be highly restricted?
Deal: Yes
Carter: No
Social Issues: Should employers be able to withhold contraceptive coverage from employees if they disagree with it morally?
Deal: Yes
Carter: Unknown
Taxes: Have you signed the Americans for Tax Reform Pledge to oppose any tax increases to raise revenue? (The answer to this question is taken from the database of signatories of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, created by Americans for Tax Reform. Signers to the pledge promise to oppose "any and all tax increases" meant to generate additional revenue.)
Deal: Yes
Carter: No
Taxes: Would you increase taxes on corporations and/or high-income individuals to pay for public services?
Deal: No. See above.
Carter: No but would review corporate loopholes
Learn more about the candidates:
Deal: Nathan Deal Vote Smart pages and Nathan Deal On the Issues pages
Carter: Jason Carter Vote Smart pages and Jason Carter On the Issues pages
-----------------
Other gubernatorial candidates include Andrew Hunt (Libertarian) and John Benson (Socialist Workers). Due to limited space, we can't include their positions, but invite you to check out their websites.