Are you looking for a nonpartisan voter guide to the John Kasich vs. Ed FitzGerald 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 John Kasich and Ed FitzGerald, with additional links at the bottom for each candidate if you'd like to dig deeper. (You can also find Ohio's Secretary of State guide here.)
----------
Education: Do you support increasing funding for K-12 education?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:Yes
Education: Do you support the effort to standardize and increase school standards under the Common Core initiative?
Kasich: Yes
FitzGerald:No
Education: Do you support providing vouchers to parents to send their children to private schools with public money?
Kasich: Yes
FitzGerald:No
Education: Do you support increasing funding for higher education?
Kasich: No (State funding of higher education has dropped 18% over the past five years. Kasich signed 2014 bill with new funding formula based on graduation and course completion rates rather than on student attendance.)
FitzGerald:Yes
Elections: Do you support cutbacks of early voting?
Kasich: Yes
FitzGerald:No
Elections: Do you support requiring registered voters to present a photo-ID in order to vote?
Kasich:
FitzGerald:
Elections: Do you support increasing restrictions on campaign donations?
Kasich: Unknown
FitzGerald:Yes
Environment: Do you believe that human activity is a major factor contributing to climate change?
Kasich: Yes
FitzGerald:Yes
Environment: Do you support taking government action to limit the levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:Yes
Environment: Do you support government mandates and/or subsidies for renewable energy?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:Yes
Gay Marriage: Do you support gay marriage?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:Yes
Gun Control: Do you support enacting more restrictive gun control legislation?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald: Unknown
Healthcare: Do you support the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:Yes
Healthcare: Should your state accept federal funds so Medicaid will cover people earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line?
Kasich: Yes
FitzGerald:Yes
Marijuana: Do you support efforts to decriminalize and/or legalize marijuana?
Kasich: No. Also opposes medical marijuana
FitzGerald: Supports medical marijuana
Minimum Wage: Do you support raising the minimum wage?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:Yes
Social Issues: Should abortion be highly restricted?
Kasich: Yes
FitzGerald:No
Social Issues: Should employers be able to withhold contraceptive coverage from employees if they disagree with it morally?
Kasich: Unknown
FitzGerald: No
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.)
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:No
Taxes: Would you increase taxes on corporations and/or high-income individuals to pay for public services?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:Yes
Unions: Should public employees, such as firefighters, police, and teachers, have the right to bargain as a group for wages and other benefits?
Kasich: No
FitzGerald:Yes
Learn more about the candidates:
Kasich: John Kasich Vote Smart pages and John Kasich On the Issues pages
FitzGerald: Ed FitzGerald Vote Smart pages
-----------------
Other gubernatorial candidates include Anita Rios (Green). Due to limited space, we can't include her positions, but invite you to check out her website.