PROJECT VOTE SMART HEADQUARTERS (October 30, 2012) – A 20-year study of over 15,000 congressional candidates and their willingness to answer questions on the major issues facing the nation finds some states' candidates consistently performing worse than others, no matter when, how, or by whom they were asked.
Beginning in 1992, and as part of a collaboration with 200 news organizations and prominent leaders of both major parties, Vote Smart's Political Courage Test has pressed each candidate to answer a series of issue questions known to be at the top of the public's mind and most likely to come up in the next legislative session (view the 2012 Political Courage Test, Congressional Edition).
The study is based on the number of U.S. House and Senate candidates willing to state their positions through the Political Courage Test over the course of 11 election cycles (1992-2012); see below for the best and worst performing states:
|
Top 5 |
% of Candidates Showing Political Courage, '92 - '12 |
Bottom 5 |
% of Candidates Showing Political Courage, '92 - '12 |
|
1. Montana |
73% |
50. Wisconsin |
35.925% |
|
2. Maine |
71% |
49. New York |
35.932% |
|
3. Idaho |
65% |
48. Georgia |
36% |
|
4. Wyoming |
59% |
47. Virginia |
37.1% |
|
5. Alaska |
58% |
46. Florida |
37.4% |
View all Political Courage Test results for both the 1992-2012 study and for the 2012 election season.
This election year marks a record low for candidate return rates as only twenty-three percent (23%) of Congressional candidates nationwide were willing to tell citizens where they stand on the issues they may face if elected.
Documented evidence shows that both major parties and campaign consultants are advising candidates to not provide citizens with issue position information for fear of opposition research and attack advertising.
“If the struggle to self-govern is successful, it is certainly not for the reasons the Founders hoped it would be,” said Richard Kimball, Vote Smart President. “Either the people no longer care about the facts or campaigns now simply manage the people.”
Key findings from 20-year study:
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Political Courage Test response rates for congressional candidates have fallen from a high of seventy-two percent (72%) in 1996 to back-to-back record low response rates occurring in 2010 with thirty-eight percent (38%), and in 2012, twenty-three percent (23%).
-
Each election year, Republicans and Democrats overall response rates remain within a few percentage points of each other. From '92 – '12, Republicans' responded thirty-eight percent (38%) of the time, and for Democrats, forty percent (40%).
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From '92 - '12, only twenty-six percent (26%) of congressional incumbents provided their issue positions, while fifty-two percent (52%) of challengers did so.
For more information about the Political Courage Testing of all 2012 state legislative and gubernatorial candidates, please visit our website.
Complete Ranking of Congressional Candidate Political Courage by State, 1992 – 2012:
| 1 | Montana | 72.73 | % |
| 2 | Maine | 70.59 | % |
| 3 | Idaho | 65.17 | % |
| 4 | Wyoming | 59.1 | % |
| 5 | Alaska | 58.21 | % |
| 6 | Michigan | 58.12 | % |
| 7 | North Dakota | 57.69 | % |
| 8 | Arizona | 56.57 | % |
| 9 | Iowa | 56.02 | % |
| 10 | New Jersey | 55.47 | % |
| 11 | Nebraska | 55.43 | % |
| 12 | Minnesota | 55.23 | % |
| 13 | South Carolina | 55 | % |
| 14 | Indiana | 54.06 | % |
| 15 | New Hampshire | 54.02 | % |
| 16 | California | 53.9 | % |
| 17 | Massachusetts | 53.88 | % |
| 18 | Oregon | 53.49 | % |
| 19 | Delaware | 53.44 | % |
| 20 | Kansas | 51.63 | % |
| 21 | South Dakota | 51.52 | % |
| 22 | Missouri | 51.47 | % |
| 23 | Rhode Island | 51.35 | % |
| 24 | Pennsylvania | 51.34 | % |
| 25 | Utah | 50.52 | % |
| 26 | West Virginia | 50 | % |
| 27 | Illinois | 49.91 | % |
| 28 | North Carolina | 49.27 | % |
| 29 | Colorado | 49.11 | % |
| 30 | Washington | 48.66 | % |
| 31 | Vermont | 48.57 | % |
| 32 | Louisiana | 48.13 | % |
| 33 | Oklahoma | 46.43 | % |
| 34 | Texas | 46.06 | % |
| 35 | Connecticut | 45.57 | % |
| 36 | Hawaii | 45.56 | % |
| 37 | Mississippi | 44.83 | % |
| 38 | Ohio | 43.16 | % |
| 39 | Maryland | 43.14 | % |
| 40 | Alabama | 41.3 | % |
| 41 | Kentucky | 40.91 | % |
| 42 | New Mexico | 40.2 | % |
| 43 | Nevada | 39.88 | % |
| 44 | Tennessee | 39.84 | % |
| 45 | Arkansas | 38.26 | % |
| 46 | Florida | 37.41 | % |
| 47 | Virginia | 37.1 | % |
| 48 | Georgia | 36.13 | % |
| 49 | New York | 35.932 | % |
| 50 | Wisconsin | 35.925 | % |
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