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Thomas Gear's Ratings and Endorsements on Issue: Business and Consumers

Vote Smart displays all known interest group ratings for each candidate and official, regardless of issue or bias.

Keep in mind that ratings done by special interest groups often do not represent a non-partisan stance. In addition, some groups select votes that tend to favor members of one political party over another, rather than choosing votes based solely on issue concerns. Nevertheless, they can be invaluable in showing where an incumbent has stood on a series of votes in the past one or two years, especially when ratings by groups on all sides of an issue are compared. Website links, if available, and descriptions of the organizations offering performance evaluations are accessible by clicking on the name of the group.

With rare exceptions, Vote Smart displays interest group ratings as a 0-100 percentage. While many interest groups use percentages as ratings to begin with, please note that Vote Smart has translated some ratings to a percentage from a different rating system for consistency and ease in understanding. Please visit the group's website, email us at ratings@votesmart.org or call our Voter Information Hotline at 1-888-VOTESMART for more specific information.

75%
2006-2007
83%
2002-2003
56
2010
56
2010
92%
2010
92%
2010
46
2010
46
2010
45
2009
45
2009
82%
2009
82%
2009
69
2009
69
2009
56
2009
56
2009
87
2008
87
2008
63%
2007
63%
2007
85%
2005
85%
2005
52%
2004
52%
2004
57%
2003
57%
2003
83%
2002
83%
2002
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