Are you looking for a nonpartisan voter guide to the Rick Snyder vs. Mark Schauer 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 Rick Snyder and Mark Schauer, with additional links at the bottom for each candidate if you'd like to dig deeper. (You can also find Michigan's Senate guide here.)
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Education: Do you support increasing funding for K-12 education?
Snyder: Contested track record on responsibility for earlier cuts. Later increased budget.
Schauer: Yes
Education cuts included lost money from end of federal stimulus. Debate centers on impact of $1.8 billion business and corporate cuts, and how they affected the education cuts and the state's economy. Snyder restored some of the education cuts in more recent budgets. See Factcheck.org
Education: Do you support increasing funding for higher education?
Snyder: Contested track record on whether responsible for earlier cuts. Later increased budget. See above.
Schauer: Yes
Education: Do you support the effort to standardize and increase school standards under the Common Core initiative?
Snyder: Yes
Schauer: Yes
Elections: Do you support requiring registered voters to present a photo-ID in order to vote?
Snyder: No
Schauer: No
Elections: Do you support increasing restrictions on campaign donations?
Snyder: No. Supported in 2012 State of the Union address, but then signed bill allowing greater contributions from undisclosed sources
Schauer: Yes
Environment: Do you believe that human activity is a major factor contributing to climate change?
Snyder: Accepts climate change as a problem, prefers not to debate whether human caused
Schauer: Yes
Environment: Do you support government mandates and/or subsidies for renewable energy?
Snyder: Has expressed support for renewable energy but opposed requiring utilities to generate 25 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2025
Schauer: Supports raising required standard to 30 percent from renewables by 2035
Gay Marriage: Do you support gay marriage?
Snyder: No, but supports civil unions
Schauer: Yes
Governance: Should the state of Michigan be able to appoint an emergency manager to take over the functions of city governments without approval of the city's residents?
Snyder: Yes
Schauer: No
Healthcare: Should your state accept federal funds so Medicaid will cover people earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line?
Snyder: Yes
Schauer: Yes
Immigration: Do you support colleges and universities awarding in-state tuition rates to state residents who are not citizens?
Snyder: Says it is up to the individual colleges and universities
Schauer: Unknown. Voted for federal DREAM Act, offering immigrant children a path to citizenship
Labor: Should members at workplaces represented by a union have the right to opt out of paying union dues?
Snyder: Yes
Schauer: No
Marijuana: Do you support efforts to decriminalize and/or legalize marijuana?
Snyder: No
Schauer: Open to decriminalization
Minimum Wage: Do you support raising the minimum wage?
Snyder: Signed increase as alternative to a state initiative that would have raised it higher
Schauer: Pushed strongly for increase and supported initiative to raise it
Social Issues: Should abortion be highly restricted?
Snyder: Yes
Schauer: No Also opposes requiring separate advance insurance policy rider for abortion coverage
Social Issues: Should employers be able to withhold contraceptive coverage from employees if they disagree with it morally?
Snyder: Unclear, but made campaign stop at a company that had filed suit against the requirement
Schauer: No
Taxes: Have you signed the Americans for Tax Reform Pledge to oppose any tax increases to raise revenue? (Answer taken from signatories of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, created Americans for Tax Reform Signers promise to oppose "any and all tax increases" meant to generate additional revenue.)
Snyder: No
Schauer: No
Taxes: Did you support the 2011 state corporate and business tax cuts totaling $1.8 billion?
Snyder: Yes
Schauer: No
Learn more about the candidates:
Snyder: Rick Snyder Vote Smart pages and Rick Snyder On the Issues pages
Schauer: Mark Schauer Vote Smart pages and Mark Schauer On the Issues pages
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Other gubernatorial candidates include Libertarian Mary Bazuma, www.electmarybuzuma.com, Green Party candidate Paul Homeniuk, www.paulhomeniuk.org, and U.S. Taxpayer's Party candidate Mark McFarlin, www.markmcfarlin.com. Due to limited space, we can't include their positions, but invite you to check out their websites.