Survey says…animal welfare becomes important issue for many voters

How do you know when an issue becomes a hot topic for voters? When candidates seek out your endorsement. Humane PA was founded just four short years ago. Last year we had to track down several candidates to take our survey to be considered for endorsement. In this year’s Primary race we found many candidates contacted us directly, seeking our endorsement. Not only are animal issues important to them, but are obviously very important to residents in the districts they are running in. 

We have had requests from some candidates for in person interviews in addition to their survey responses. We’ve also had some candidates report back to us that voters in their district have contacted them and asked them to please take our survey.

We have reached more than 25,000 Pennsylvania voters directly and through the power of social media – facebook, twitter and our website/blog – exponentially more who care about animal issues and vote! In a general election year with a tight presidential race, Independents could tip the scales ever so slightly to eek out a win for either side. In several state races this could translate into many single-issue voters, such as humane voters, deciding close races. 

So how do you know who to vote for? Humane PA takes the guesswork out of knowing what candidate will vote for animal welfare/anti-cruelty bills once they are elected, by issuing endorsements. We take our endorsements very seriously and have a step by step process. We start with our Humane PA Candidate Survey and if a follow-up interview is necessary to clarify their responses we make that phone call. If the candidate is an incumbent we look very carefully at their voting record on animal bills found here in the Humane PA Scorecard. If an incumbent has stood with us on all of our animal bills, we do not turn our back on them and in most cases consider giving them the nod. We also take polling into consideration, especially in tight races when both candidates are strong on humane issues. We do our homework so you don’t have to. 

We send out our survey via email to all candidates running for state offices. If you want to make sure your candidate has an opportunity to be considered for our endorsement, please remind by copying and pasting this link to send it via email, chat, private message, or post it directly to their candidate facebook page. All surveys must be completed no later than August 15^th to be considered for endorsement.

Endorsements will be posted on our website in the beginning of September.