How the Vote 2026 quiz works

The fairness rules

• — Same rules for everyone. Party, incumbency, and polling don't change how a candidate is scored.
• — Names stay hidden. You see positions first and choose when to reveal who holds them.
• — Sourced or skipped. A position counts only if it links a public source: the candidate's website, a debate, a voter-guide survey (like Vote411), an interview, or an official vote. If we couldn't find one, it's "No public position" and left out of the score. Never counted against them, never guessed from party.
• — Votes count as positions. Incumbents and former officeholders have a record. A vote is treated like any other public statement. When what someone said and how they voted point to different answers, we mark the position "Mixed," show both, and give them the average of the two. A vote on a bill that bundles unrelated things (for example, the 2026 bill pairing a stock-trading limit with voter ID) doesn't set a position by itself, for anyone.
• — Coverage shown. Each score says how many of your answers it's based on. A candidate needs public positions on at least 3 of the issues you answered to get a percentage, so one lucky overlap can't put a little-known candidate on top.
• — Real options, not two sides. Most issues have more than two positions, so each question offers three or four distinct ones, plus "None of these fit my view." Agree/disagree questions nudge people toward "agree," so we follow Pew Research Center's advice to offer a choice between alternatives. Where a choice has a real cost (taxes, spending, prices), the option names it. Options appear in order or reversed, at random.
• — Options don't follow candidates. We wrote options to cover the views voters hold, not the ones candidates hold. Sometimes no candidate takes your position, and the results say so.
• — No order hints. Candidates with the same score are listed in random order, so position in the list never gives away party or incumbency.

The math

For each issue, a candidate whose position is the same option you picked gets 100%. An option that partly overlaps yours gets 50% (the list below shows which ones overlap). Any other option gets 0%. A mixed record gets the average of its two options. Issues you mark "matters a lot" count double. Your match is the weighted average over issues where the candidate has a public position. "Not sure" and "None of these" are skipped. Scores built on fewer than 4 issues are marked as rough.

State issues are used only for Governor; federal issues only for U.S. House; shared issues for both.

The issues

• Minimum wage (quick + full): What should Pennsylvania do about its minimum wage?
  1. Raise it to $15 or more, even if some businesses raise prices or cut hours.
  2. Raise it some (to around $10–12), phased in over a few years.
  3. Keep it at $7.25 and let employers and the job market set pay.
  4. Get rid of a government-set minimum wage altogether.

  Partial overlap: "Raise it to $15 or more" and "Raise it some (to around $10–12)"; "Raise it some (to around $10–12)" and "Keep it at $7"; "Keep it at $7" and "Get rid of a government-set minimum wage altogether".

• School choice (quick + full): Should state education money follow students to private schools?
  1. Yes, for every family: state money (vouchers or savings accounts) usable at any school.
  2. Yes, but only for students in the lowest-performing public schools (like the proposed Lifeline/PASS scholarships).
  3. No vouchers, but keep or grow the tax credits businesses get for funding private-school scholarships.
  4. No. Keep state education money in public schools.

  Partial overlap: "Yes" and "Yes"; "Yes" and "No vouchers"; "No vouchers" and "No".

• Marijuana (quick + full): What should Pennsylvania do about recreational marijuana?
  1. Legalize it for adults with state-licensed stores, and tax it to help the budget.
  2. Legalize it for adults with light taxes and rules, including growing your own.
  3. Stop arresting people for small amounts, but don't set up legal sales.
  4. Keep it illegal. Medical marijuana only.

  Partial overlap: "Legalize it for adults with state-licensed stores" and "Legalize it for adults with light taxes and rules"; "Legalize it for adults with light taxes and rules" and "Stop arresting people for small amounts"; "Stop arresting people for small amounts" and "Keep it illegal".

• Property tax (quick + full): What should happen to school property taxes?
  1. End school property taxes entirely, replacing the money with other state taxes or spending cuts.
  2. Cut or cap them, and make up the difference by cutting state spending elsewhere.
  3. Keep them, but expand rebates and relief for seniors and lower-income homeowners.
  4. Keep the current system, with local school boards setting the rate.

  Partial overlap: "End school property taxes entirely" and "Cut or cap them"; "Cut or cap them" and "Keep them"; "Keep them" and "Keep the current system".

• Transit (full only): How should Pennsylvania pay for public transit?
  1. Give transit a steady new state funding source, even with the budget gap.
  2. Give short-term money to prevent cuts, tied to cost-cutting and reforms.
  3. Let regions raise their own transit money, such as a local tax, instead of the state.
  4. No new state money, even if that means service cuts or higher fares.

  Partial overlap: "Give transit a steady new state funding source" and "Give short-term money to prevent cuts"; "Give short-term money to prevent cuts" and "Let regions raise their own transit money"; "Give short-term money to prevent cuts" and "No new state money"; "Let regions raise their own transit money" and "No new state money".

• Energy and climate (full only): What should Pennsylvania's energy policy put first?
  1. Grow natural gas and fossil-fuel jobs, with no new climate rules.
  2. Grow gas and nuclear while adding wind and solar, without charging power plants for carbon.
  3. Shift to clean energy faster with state targets and incentives.
  4. Charge power plants for carbon pollution, even if electric bills go up.

  Partial overlap: "Grow natural gas and fossil-fuel jobs" and "Grow gas and nuclear while adding wind and solar"; "Grow gas and nuclear while adding wind and solar" and "Shift to clean energy faster with state targets and incentives"; "Shift to clean energy faster with state targets and incentives" and "Charge power plants for carbon pollution".

• Primaries (full only): Who should get to vote in primary elections?
  1. Let independent voters choose either party's primary to vote in.
  2. Replace party primaries with one primary for all voters and candidates; the top finishers go to November.
  3. Keep them for party members, but make the parties pay for them instead of taxpayers.
  4. Keep them as they are, for party members only.

  Partial overlap: "Let independent voters choose either party's primary to vote in" and "Replace party primaries with one primary for all voters and candidates"; "Keep them for party members" and "Keep them as they are".

• Abortion (quick + full): What should abortion law be?
  1. Write stronger protections for abortion access into law, like those under Roe v. Wade.
  2. Keep things as they are: legal in Pennsylvania up to 24 weeks, with each state setting its own law.
  3. Limit it earlier in pregnancy, such as 15 or 20 weeks, with exceptions after that.
  4. Ban most abortions, with exceptions only for rape, incest, or the mother's life.

  Partial overlap: "Write stronger protections for abortion access into law" and "Keep things as they are"; "Keep things as they are" and "Limit it earlier in pregnancy"; "Limit it earlier in pregnancy" and "Ban most abortions".

• Immigration enforcement (quick + full): Which comes closest to your view on immigration enforcement?
  1. State and local police should actively help federal agents (ICE) find and detain people here illegally.
  2. Focus on people charged with serious crimes; local police should hand only those people to ICE.
  3. Leave it to federal agents; state and local police should stay out of it.
  4. Rein in ICE itself, with rules like judges' warrants, no masks, and visible ID.

  Partial overlap: "State and local police should actively help federal agents (ICE) find and detain people here illegally" and "Focus on people charged with serious crimes"; "Focus on people charged with serious crimes" and "Leave it to federal agents"; "Leave it to federal agents" and "Rein in ICE itself".

• Voter ID (full only): What ID should voters need?
  1. Photo ID every time, in person and by mail.
  2. ID every time, but non-photo ID like a utility bill counts, and the state gives free IDs.
  3. Keep the current rules, so eligible voters without ID aren't turned away.

  Partial overlap: "Photo ID every time" and "ID every time"; "ID every time" and "Keep the current rules".

• Guns (full only): What should happen with gun laws?
  1. Background checks on all gun sales, plus red-flag laws letting courts temporarily take guns from people found dangerous.
  2. Background checks on all gun sales, but no red-flag laws.
  3. No new gun laws; enforce the ones already on the books.
  4. Loosen gun laws, such as allowing concealed carry without a permit.

  Partial overlap: "Background checks on all gun sales" and "Background checks on all gun sales"; "Background checks on all gun sales" and "No new gun laws"; "No new gun laws" and "Loosen gun laws".

• Ethics (full only): Which of these limits on lawmakers do you want?
  1. Term limits and a ban on trading individual stocks.
  2. A stock-trading ban, but no term limits.
  3. Term limits, but keep current stock-trading rules.
  4. Neither. Voters decide how long lawmakers serve, and current disclosure rules are enough.

  Partial overlap: "Term limits and a ban on trading individual stocks" and "A stock-trading ban"; "Term limits and a ban on trading individual stocks" and "Term limits"; "A stock-trading ban" and "Neither"; "Term limits" and "Neither".

• Tariffs (quick + full): What should the U.S. do about tariffs on imports?
  1. Keep broad tariffs on most imports to bring back jobs, even if prices go up.
  2. Use tariffs only on specific countries or goods, like China or steel, and drop the broad ones.
  3. Let Congress decide; the President shouldn't set broad tariffs alone.
  4. Remove most tariffs so people and businesses can buy at the lowest price.

  Partial overlap: "Keep broad tariffs on most imports to bring back jobs" and "Use tariffs only on specific countries or goods"; "Use tariffs only on specific countries or goods" and "Let Congress decide"; "Use tariffs only on specific countries or goods" and "Remove most tariffs so people and businesses can buy at the lowest price"; "Let Congress decide" and "Remove most tariffs so people and businesses can buy at the lowest price".

• Health insurance (quick + full): What should happen to that extra help?
  1. Restore it in full, even though it adds to federal spending.
  2. Bring some back, with income limits or a phase-out, and offset the cost.
  3. Replace it by sending the money to people directly, such as in health savings accounts.
  4. Let it stay expired to save federal money, even if premiums go up for some people.

  Partial overlap: "Restore it in full" and "Bring some back"; "Bring some back" and "Replace it by sending the money to people directly"; "Replace it by sending the money to people directly" and "Let it stay expired to save federal money".

• Medicaid (full only): What should Congress do about that law's Medicaid changes?
  1. Reverse the cuts and the work requirements, even though it adds to federal spending.
  2. Keep the work requirements but reverse the spending cuts.
  3. Keep the law as passed: the cuts and the work requirements.
  4. Cut Medicaid spending more and give states more control.

  Partial overlap: "Reverse the cuts and the work requirements" and "Keep the work requirements but reverse the spending cuts"; "Keep the work requirements but reverse the spending cuts" and "Keep the law as passed"; "Keep the law as passed" and "Cut Medicaid spending more and give states more control".

Privacy

Your answers never leave your browser. We count anonymous events (quiz started, finished, names revealed, shared, which length and district you picked) with GoatCounter, which uses no cookies. No names, emails, or answers are stored.

A note on AI

We used Claude, an AI assistant from Anthropic, to help write the code and to search for candidate positions. Every position links to the public source it came from so you can check it yourself. Positions last checked 2026-10-27. Found a mistake? Let us know and we'll fix it.