Where do you classify yourself in the political spectrum – liberal, conservative, libertarian, statist or centrist?
I just came across a smart little political quiz which has me pegged as a liberal leaning toward centrist status (70/20 on the personal/economic scale). A fair assessment, I think. The 10 question quiz, which has been around for awhile, has been praised by both the Washington Post and Fraser Institute as being accurate in assessing one’s political leanings.
In researching the history of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, I came across this tidbit of information.
On August 23, 2000, Portrait of America conducted a national telephone survey of 822 likely voters. Using the same questions and scale, the survey found 32% of American voters are centrists; 16% are libertarians; 14% are authoritarians; 13% liberal; 7% are conservative; and, 17% border one or more categories.
The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Interesting. In a world where political thought is controlled by 24 hour cable news, a gazillion political blogs as well as social media like Twitter broadcasting everyone’s political opinion (yes, and politician’s penises too), one can be forgiven if they sometimes believe that the country is neatly divided between left and right. As with most things in life, it’s the shades of gray which lie (lay?..no, I’m quite sure it’s lie…I hate irregular verbs) between the extreme ends which tell the true story. In a world of 20 second sound bites and diminishing attention spans, complexity has become a dirty word. For many, it is simpler and less time consuming to have their beliefs controlled by irrational fear as dictated by some charlatan with a chalkboard and an agenda. Research and critical thinking, after all, takes effort.
Try the quiz and let us know if you’re at all surprised by the results.
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Came up as liberal. That’s close. There was no place on the graph for scum bag.
“There was no place on the graph for scum bag.”
LOL.
Liberal here too just a bit to the left of centrist. That’s me!
Came up liberal… big surprise! :)
Surprisingly I came up as a Centrist on the very left side.
Libertarian, 100/80. (another big surprise)
Don’t fret, Tommy. We like you anyway.
Thanks Mario.
I scored 80 on the economic scale, which means I’m not quite a pure libertarian. Can anyone guess which answer(s) lowered my score?
No problem.
I’ll say you gave “Maybe” to ‘End corporate welfare…’ and to ‘End government barriers…free trade‘
If I’m right, I’ll take that big stuffed elephant on the 2nd shelf as a prize.
You’re half right.
Ok. You gave a Disagree to ‘End government barriers…free trade.”
I’ll take the medium-sized elephant.
You’re getting colder.
Liberal here with slight centrist leanings – 70/20 also so I think I am in pretty darn good company!
I suprised myself and probably most of you will be surprised to find that I came out as a centrist .
Ok Mario, I’ll let you off the hook.
“End government barriers to international free trade.” Maybe
“Replace government welfare with private charity.” Maybe
I found that test years ago, and I consistently score as a liberal – 90% on personal issues, 20% on economic.
There’s another interesting quiz on religious orientation, the Belief-O-Matic, run by Beliefnet. Despite the fact that there are a lot more questions – too many to memorize conveniently – I always score fairly consistently on that – and the religion I was born and raised to (and abandoned by the time I was 12) always comes in second last (the only one lower is Jehovah’s Witlesses).
Liberal here (no surprise!) but the big surprise to me was that my 20-year-old son is Centrist with left leanings. Fascinating. We discussed how and why we vary, (reasonable discussions are so refreshing!!!), and he thinks, and I agree, that the answers given are highly subjective. He had a different specific situation in mind for each question than I did, and that determined each of our answers. This bought about a great conversation and more understanding of each other’s values and reasoning process. Always a good thing!
@Tommy
““Replace government welfare with private charity.” Maybe”
Really? That doesn’t sound like you. I thought you were a firm believer that helping others should be done on a voluntary basis.
Anyway, forget the stuffed elephants. I’ll just take a LeRoy Neiman print as a consolation prize.
After pondering why I came out as centrist it is because the way the questions were asked or the way the options for answers were given made me analyze my answers for all possibilitis. For example the question: “There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults?” I said no because I do not want brothels allowed to move into family neighborhoods, which would be possible with a yes answer. Other than that for consenting have a good time. This is why I do not like most survey questions.
For a survey to offer truthful answers it must offer reasons/explanations such as to this question: “Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs?”
Many people would say yes if the question specified what drugs. For example marijuana would get a very different answer than heroin or crack or meth. All drugs are not the same by far and whatever answer you give to this question is likely to be misleading.
BTW last time I took a much longer more precise test of my political leanings I came out to the left of Gandhi hahahaha. I haven’t changed that much, really.
You got to be kidding me. This is such a skewd quiz that you can only be Liberal or Centerist. Cut Taxes and spending by 50%!!! LOL
This quiz, like the American political spectrum, is skewed. What Americans call “liberals” would be called “centrists” is most other countries. What Americans call “conservatives” would be called “fascists” in other countries. What other countries call “liberals” would be called “commie pinko scum” by Americans.
90/20. Liberal. Should have an environmental question or two.
And they often are Peter Voth. Looking at politics as they are right now is like steping through the looking glass.
The questions have a decidedly conservative bent, at least to the ears of a Canadian. Some of the questions it asks even sound absurd, like the ones about whether there should be a draft or not, or whether sex between consenting adults should have no laws regulating them. Also, the American term ‘Social Security’ has a built in doublespeak – here it is called what it ought to be known as: Social Insurance. To obfuscate the intent of the program with the vague ‘Security’ invites others to want to ‘privatize’ it, which also sounds absurd. (Privatize Social Insurance? How could that even be possible?)
In short, American politics are so far to the right, they define a new centre. It makes the rest of us shake our heads in disbelief.
Peter and David, you have raised points that have been simmering in the back of my mind for some time, such as when I read about other countries who have excellent social nets, quality of life, happiness factor, and all have higher or highest taxes.
My grandfather was a Republican. The Republican Party is no longer the Republican Party of our Grandfathers. Al that might have been admirable about them is gone, gone, gone. It’s a wasteland of mindless Looney Tunes following the Pied Pipers paid by the wealthy.
I think this quiz was great as a conversation starter between reasonable people (see my post above), but as you say, it could be vastly improved.
Thank you for your input! The USA is a country of immigrants. We’ve borrowed ideas from everywhere to make the best country we can. I think it’s time for some big improvements. Keep the input coming!
Finally (somewhat) settled in at the new home. At least enough I can find my clothes for work this morning! Missed being on line for 4 days! Lot’s has been happening, I see.
I came in at 70/30. No surprises for me either. My parents were FDR Democrats. They were in their 40s when I was born. They lived through the depression and they damned well knew what hard times were. My dad pegged the GOP for me when I was 15 and nothing has changed since then…45 years later, except they have become worse, since they no longer have Wm F Buckley to keep their crazies at bay. Birthers, Birchers, Teas, etc. The entire Looney Tunes crowd.
“Replace government welfare with private charity.” Maybe
Really? That doesn’t sound like you. I thought you were a firm believer that helping others should be done on a voluntary basis.”
Mario – I support a state or local government’s right to establish a social safety net of their own design and funding. I just don’t think it should be the venue of the federal government to do it. It would be interesting to watch for any possible change of demographics. I wonder if wealthy, heavily taxed individuals would leave, and would low income individuals move in.
Left liberal here! I checked “disagree” on all the second section except on ending government welfare.
Liberal 90/40 No corporate welfare to the fat cats. (Stay out of people’s bedrooms, and vagina’s.) Would love to see the end of NAFTA, and all the stupid laws the US Supreme court have brought onto the nation in the last 5 years.
I usually call myself moderate progressive. I don’t believe government should have a say in who to marry, who can vote other then federal offenders of crime, and illegal residence. Thinks marijuana should just be legalized already. And the waste of spending on ever rising thieving health care costs. The disabled and retired as the recipients are not the problem with government, but those that provide, like corporate pharmacies, Physicians wanting to make money for drug prescriptions to those that are addicted. High cost of medical equipment, joint replacements, medications, etc., are unbelievably high to help, so we are told, to pay for the technology, which is constantly changing. AND pay for all those very expensive commercials to sell us the idea that the next pill that is invented will make us so much happier and healthier. Supports Universal Healthcare, and I don’t give a crap about higher cost to everyone on that system. It’s worth it to have a healthy thriving country. People don’t need to be so stinky filthy rich. That’s what causes the class warfare we live in now. It does not create jobs, oh maybe a few, but nothing the rich say it well, just enough to say they tried. What they really want is a reason to bring home the bacon they stole from American’s, so they have a home based place to hide most of the money. It also causes god complex, power complex, and a sick nation that spreads across the world.
I’m ok with taxing churches, that don’t actually monetarily provide food, shelter, any kind of REAL help, or don’t pay a livable wage to the Pastor.
I probably should edit this some, but I’m up late, and a little cranky.