Carly Fiorina's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
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Carly Fiorina has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2016 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
Issue Positions
For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2016.
- "Because life is an important issue that we shouldn't be afraid to talk about. Like I said at that March for Life event, science is on our side. It shows that unborn babies feel pain and dream at five months and that the DNA on the day that we die is the same DNA we had as a zygote. Every human life is precious and has potential." (www.christianpost.com)
- ATR.com "Carly Fiorina, a candidate for the presidency of the United States, has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to the American people. The pledge is a written commitment to the American people to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes." Previously, Fiorina signed the Pledge as a U.S. Senate candidate from California in 2010. "Carly has a long history of supporting and defending taxpayers," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform." (www.atr.org)
- Washington Post "Fiorina said a number of Republican governors have made changes to their criminal justice systems that have reduced prison populations while driving down violent crime rates. She cited "decriminalizing drug addiction and drug use" as an example of a successful reform but did not elaborate on what sort of decriminalization she would like to see nationally. Aides did not respond to a request for more information." (www.washingtonpost.com)
- New York Times "Ms. Fiorina generally believes that reducing government regulations helps to spur the economy, and she opposed the 2009 federal stimulus program as a wasteful use of taxpayer money." (www.nytimes.com)
- PBS "the former CEO argued against any increase in the gas tax in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, saying lower gas prices are an important factor in America's economic recovery." (www.pbs.org)
- "America's future prosperity requires that changes be made to Common Core. The facts are pretty clear, the bigger our education department becomes, the worse our public education becomes. There's no connection between spending more money in our nation's capital and a better school system. Parents should be given choice, competition, and accountability in the classroom. Teaching entrepreneurship, innovation, risk taking, and imagination comes with local control and we have to maintain this in our school system." (www.christianpost.com)
- PBS "In a position paper while running for the U.S. Senate in California, Fiorina strongly advocated for metric-based accountability in schools. She praised No Child Left Behind as setting high standards and Race to the Top for using internationally-benchmarked measures." (www.pbs.org)
- The Hill "GOP candidate Carly Fiorina said on Sunday she would give Common Core a failing grade for how it teaches American students. "Our education system is a big problem," Fiorina told host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." "When a Washington bureaucracy gets involved in program, it becomes heavy-handed and standardized," she said. "It's how Washington bureaucracy works."" (thehill.com)
- "Well, first, just on Keystone Pipeline, perhaps the president will veto this. But on what basis would he do so? The American people support it by wide majorities. What we are doing today is actually worse for global greenhouse gas emissions than the Keystone Pipeline would be. It would create jobs despite his bizarre statement that it wouldn't." (www.nbcnews.com)
- Des Moines Register "Carly Fiorina missed last weekend's Ag Summit but mark her down as a "no" on continuing federal renewable energy incentives such as the wind energy tax credit and the renewable fuel standard beyond the short term. "The right answer ultimately is that the government shouldn't be in the business of subsidizing anything," Fiorina said. "Subsidies and a variety of tax credits distort the markets.'" (www.desmoinesregister.com)
- New York Times "But she has argued against regulation in California to reduce climate-warming emissions, saying such actions by individual governments alone "won't make a bit of difference in climate change." She has also been critical of efforts to reach international treaties to fight climate change, expressing skepticism that huge carbon emitters like China will change their behavior." (www.nytimes.com)
- "I support the 2nd Amendment and the rights of gun owners like me and my husband because it is our God-given right & our Constitutional right." (www.facebook.com)
- "CHUCK TODD: And welcome back. The panel is still here. And I want to pick up on quickly on the healthcare conversation. Carly Fiorina, would you be advising for repeal at this point in time? And do you think at some point, you've got to almost stop talking about repeal, or no? CARLY FIORINA: I think that the Republican House will pass the bill that repeals it. I think ultimately this bill does need to be repealed." (www.nbcnews.com)
- "Carly believes that the solution to our nation's illegal immigration problem must begin with securing our borders. Without secure borders, we cannot begin to have a rational discussion about immigration policy. Technology holds great potential to help in our nation's security efforts, and Carly believes we should use every tool at our disposal to ensure our borders are secure. At the same time, Carly is also committed to developing an effective visa program and temporary worker program to support legal immigrants who fulfill important roles in our nation's economy. An effective temporary worker program for seasonal agricultural employees and visa programs for workers in other high-skill, high-demand industries can help us fill what are often dire employment needs." (votesmart.org)
- New York Times "While she does not endorse same-sex marriages, Ms. Fiorina supports granting government benefits to same-sex couples. She defended the recent Indiana law, subsequently altered, that drew criticism for having the potential to allow discrimination against gay people. "People of religious conviction know that marriage is a religious institution with a spiritual foundation because only a man and a woman can create life, which is a gift that comes from God," she said. "We must protect their rights as well.'" (www.nytimes.com)
- PBS "When running for U.S. Senate in 2010, she supported California's Proposition 8 to make same-sex marriage illegal and that she believes gay couples should be afforded the right to civil unions." (www.pbs.org)
- "The debate about gay marriage is really a debate about how the government bestows benefits and whether they should be bestowed equally. I believe they should... I also believe that people of religious conviction know that marriage is a religious institution with a spiritual foundation because only a man and a woman can create life, which is a gift that comes from God. We must protect their rights as well." (www.bloomberg.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
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