OnTheIssuesLogo Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader on VoteMatch

2004 Reform nominee; 2000 Green Candidate for President



VoteMatch Responses
(Click here for VoteMatch quiz)
VoteMatch Question & Answer
(Click on question for explanation and background)
Based on these stances:
(Click on topic for excerpt & citation)
Favors topic 1:
Abortion is a woman's right
(+2 points on Social scale)
Supports NOW's agenda on Reproductive Rights: Strongly Favors topic 1
Supports stem cell research: Favors topic 1
Roe v. Wade is not at risk, even from GOP Supreme Court: Favors topic 1
If Roe is reversed, decision just reverts to the states: Opposes topic 1
Threats to overturn Roe are “scare tactics”: Favors topic 1
No government role; let women privately decide: Favors topic 1
Roe v Wade is safe; GOP must back off pushing it: Favors topic 1
Favors topic 2:
Require hiring more women & minorities
(-3 points on Economic scale)
End secret detentions & restore civil liberties: No opin. on topic 2
Women are still second-class citizens in school athletics: Favors topic 2
Questioned anti-female bias at 1950s Harvard Law School: Strongly Favors topic 2
Long history of fighting in sexual politics: Favors topic 2
Strongly Favors topic 3:
Same-sex domestic partnership benefits
(+5 points on Social scale)
Get rid of gay discrimination fully, not halfway: Strongly Favors topic 3
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is discriminatory against gays: Favors topic 3
Nader supports gay marriage; but gay groups support Gore: Strongly Favors topic 3
Supports Civil Union in Vermont and elsewhere: Strongly Favors topic 3
Opposes topic 4:
Teacher-led prayer in public schools
(+2 points on Social scale)
Teach democratic principles & citizenship in schools: Opposes topic 4
Focus on civic & consumer education: Opposes topic 4
Strongly Opposes topic 8:
Death Penalty
(+5 points on Social scale)
Opposed 1996 expansion of the federal death penalty: Strongly Opposes topic 8
Death penalty does not deter: Strongly Opposes topic 8
Moratorium on executions: Strongly Opposes topic 8
Some executed by death penalty were innocent: Strongly Opposes topic 8
Death penalty does not deter & is discriminatory: Strongly Opposes topic 8
Strongly Opposes topic 9:
Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws
(+5 points on Social scale)
Decreasing unemployment reduces crime; not enforcement: Opposes topic 9
Focus on crime prevention instead of harsher sentences: Strongly Opposes topic 9
Police must follow the law too: Opposes topic 9
Strongly Opposes topic 10:
Absolute right to gun ownership
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Support Brady Bill & thoughtful gun control: Strongly Opposes topic 10
Supports trigger locks, licensing, & banning some guns: Strongly Opposes topic 10
Strongly Favors topic 5:
More federal funding for health coverage
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Billing fraud and abuse costs $200B: Favors topic 5
Single-payer health care plan over for-profit care: Strongly Favors topic 5
3.5% payroll tax to fund universal healthcare: Strongly Favors topic 5
Cradle-to-grave health care better than Clinton’s plan: Strongly Favors topic 5
US should adopt Canadian single-payer system: Strongly Favors topic 5
Use Canadian system as a model for US: Strongly Favors topic 5
Health care is a universal human right: Strongly Favors topic 5
Strongly Opposes topic 6:
Privatize Social Security
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Social Security is solid; pending bankruptcy is nonsense: Strongly Opposes topic 6
Social insurance is government at its noblest: Strongly Opposes topic 6
Social Security privatization replaces certainty with risk: Strongly Opposes topic 6
Fears loss of retirement funds in privatized investments: Strongly Opposes topic 6
Strongly Opposes topic 7:
Parents choose schools via vouchers
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Support choice within public schools: Strongly Opposes topic 7
Strongly Favors topic 18:
Replace coal & oil with alternatives
(-5 points on Economic scale)
It is time to break our addiction to fossil fuels: Strongly Favors topic 18
End subsidies of entrenched oil, nuclear, & coal interests: Strongly Favors topic 18
More renewables & more efficency to stave off global warming: Strongly Favors topic 18
Raise CAFE standards; treat SUVs like cars: Strongly Favors topic 18
Motor vehicles are the greatest environmental hazard: Strongly Favors topic 18
Strongly Opposes topic 19:
Drug use is immoral: enforce laws against it
(+5 points on Social scale)
The drug war has failed, despite $50B annually: Strongly Opposes topic 19
Legalize marijuana, and treat addiction as a health problem: Strongly Opposes topic 19
Remove industrial hemp from DEA drug list: Strongly Opposes topic 19
Replace Drug War with treatment and alternative sentencing: Strongly Opposes topic 19
Solution to addiction is information, not prohibition: Strongly Opposes topic 19
Rated A+ by VOTE-HEMP, indicating a pro-hemp voting record: Strongly Opposes topic 19
Opposes topic 20:
Allow churches to provide welfare services
(-3 points on Economic scale)
Homelessness is peaking despite good economy: Opposes topic 20
Strongly Favors topic 11:
Make taxes more progressive
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Stop tax cuts and start dealing with real problems: Strongly Favors topic 11
Put meat in the process of progressive taxation: Strongly Favors topic 11
More taxpayer input into tax & spending policy: Favors topic 11
Focus on under-taxation of corporations, not income tax: Strongly Favors topic 11
Against flat tax; keep progressivity: Strongly Favors topic 11
Favors topic 12:
Illegal immigrants earn citizenship
(+2 points on Social scale)
H1B visas in US cause "brain drain" in Third World: Strongly Opposes topic 12
Immigrants don’t come for welfare; restore safety net: Strongly Favors topic 12
Don’t blame immigrants for social and economic problems: Strongly Favors topic 12
Strongly Opposes topic 13:
Support & expand free trade
(-5 points on Economic scale)
In anti-globalization book, "The Case Against Free Trade": Strongly Opposes topic 13
WTO makes trade supreme over labor, environment & consumers: Strongly Opposes topic 13
Free trade isn't win-win: we're exporting jobs: Strongly Opposes topic 13
NAFTA and GATT supersede national and state laws: Strongly Opposes topic 13
Renegotiate NAFTA & WTO “as if human beings mattered”: Strongly Opposes topic 13
It’s not free trade; it’s corporate-managed trade: Opposes topic 13
NAFTA failures: $50B Mexico bailout; 400,000 exported jobs: Opposes topic 13
WTO’s “trade uber alles” hurts environment, health, & safety: Strongly Opposes topic 13
Strongly Opposes topic 15:
Expand the armed forces
(+5 points on Social scale)
Half of federal budget is now military spending: Strongly Opposes topic 15
Cut defense budget by $62B by reducing waste & fraud: Strongly Opposes topic 15
Stop spending on unneeded weapons & non-existent enemies: Strongly Opposes topic 15
Cut defense budget by $100B; time to demobilize: Strongly Opposes topic 15
Arms race is driven by corporate demand: Opposes topic 15
Strongly Favors topic 16:
Stricter limits on political campaign funds
(-5 points on Economic scale)
Clean money means clean elections: Strongly Favors topic 16
Public funding of campaigns would fight corporate control: Strongly Favors topic 16
Public campaign finance; 12-year term limits: Strongly Favors topic 16
Strongly Favors topic 14:
The Patriot Act harms civil liberties
(+5 points on Social scale)
Hold Bush accountable for torture & illegal war: Strongly Favors topic 14
Patriot Act associated with abuse of Muslim's civil rights: Favors topic 14
Repeal the Patriot Act; end secret detentions: Strongly Favors topic 14
Favors topic 17:
US out of Iraq
(+2 points on Social scale)
Rapid and responsible withdrawal of US military from Iraq: Strongly Favors topic 17
Bush should apologize for failing our troops: Favors topic 17
Bush should never have invaded Iraq: Strongly Favors topic 17
Support foreign peasants instead of foreign dictators: Opposes topic 17
Support social and economic justice across the globe: Favors topic 17
Assist Russia & Israel in moving towards better governments: Strongly Favors topic 17
Selling arms is not a good way to conduct foreign affairs: Opposes topic 17

Other candidates' VoteMatch: Ralph Nader on the issues:
Frontrunners:
GOP: Sen.John McCain
Democrat: Sen.Hillary Clinton
Democrat: Sen.Barack Obama

GOP V.P. Possibilities:
Mayor Rudy Giuliani(NYC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Sen.Joe Lieberman(CT)
Gov.Mitt Romney(MA)
Gov. Mark Sanford(SC)

Third Parties:
Libertarian: Rep.Bob Barr
Libertarian: Sen.Mike Gravel
Constitution: Amb.Alan Keyes
Liberation: Gloria La Riva
Green: Rep.Cynthia McKinney
Socialist: Brian Moore
Independent: Ralph Nader
Libertarian: Rep.Ron Paul
Abortion
Budget/Economy
Civil Rights
Corporations
Crime
Drugs
Education
Energy/Oil
Environment
Families/Children
Foreign Policy
Free Trade
Govt. Reform
Gun Control
Health Care
Homeland Security
Immigration
Infrastructure/Technology
Jobs
Principles/Values
Social Security
Tax Reform
War/Iraq/Mideast
Welfare/Poverty

Page last updated: Jul 11, 2008