Website helps with picking a candidate

APPLETON - They have been on the campaign trail for months. Now the Republican presidential campaigns are pulling into Wisconsin. To help voters pick a candidate that best represents their views, Lawrence University Professor Robert Beck created the website MyElectionDecision.org. The site gives voters an unbiased way to match a candidate with their personal views.

"It's the impartial way to make your decision without knowing who said what," said Beck.

You start by rating the six issues in the survey, then rate candidate responses to the topics and then the program matches your ratings to give you the candidate that best matches your views. The survey is unbiased because the candidates are not shown with their responses. Only after completing the survey does the program reveal which candidate best matches your responses.

"We liken it to a wine tasting where you don't know the label, you read the text but you don't know if it is Romney's statement or Gingrich and so forth," said Beck.

Categories range from economy, national security, energy to healthcare, education and individual rights. The candidate responses come directly from their own campaign websites. The goal, according to Lawrence University Political Science Professor Arnold Shober, is to help voters sort out like-minded candidates.

"Having chunks of information on different issues can help a voter distinguish between candidates who are mostly on the same page," Shober said.

• Click here to visit MyElectionDecision.org
• Click here to take a trivia quiz on Wisconsin's primary
• Story: Presidential candidates headed to Wisconsin

So far more than 1,500 people have taken the survey. Professor Shober says the survey gives voters a clearer picture of the big issues facing our country.

"A site like this will let you hear what the candidates have to say in their own words, for better or for worse this is how they phrase it," he said.

Helpful information as candidates blanket the Badger state ahead of a crucial vote that puts Wisconsin in the spotlight.