loquitur

This site has a quiz that places you on a grid, and shows how you compare to the candidates running for US President. Very interesting.

The graph they showed was revealing: I was dead center on social issues, halfway over to the right on economic issues. But according to this quiz, I am closest to Ron Paul (right on his photo, in fact) and furthest from Barack Obama. BUT - I would actually consider voting for Obama, and there is no way in hell I would vote for Ron Paul. Which goes to show you that people don't decide only on issues.

Where do you come out? And do you find the results surprising?

roachboy

interesting. i'm to the left of obama on the pretty graphic.
at this point in the selection ritual, i am pretty indifferent about the varieties of centrist (and one right libertarian zany) who are running for the office of el jeffe. but the result in no way surprised me.

this is a bit better than other such gridding exercises.
thanks loquitor

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Willravel

I'm in the upper left. As usual. BTW, this graph is missing Kucinich, but I suspect that I'd be very close to him. Barring that, I'm closest to Barak.

host

I clicked the opposite answer, by mistake, at least twice, and the result was that I test closest to Obama.

Cynthetiq

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Baraka_Guru

I'm going to be Barak Obama's running mate, apparently.

(I hit him in the neck.)


Obama for President! Obama 2008!

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SecretMethod70

These quizzes are only good for a cursory look at the candidates and the issues, nonetheless they are interesting and good starting points regarding who to look at.

It's interesting to look at only one issue at a time too, especially since the quiz doesn't allow you to add weight to issues.

Environmentally - a very important issue IMO - I'm right on top of Edwards (Yet, oddly, when I do the "compare candidate with your issues" thing, Edwards matches me 83% and the other 3 Democrats match me 92%, so I don't know what's up with that.)
On gun control, I'm closest to Bill Richardson among the Democrats.
On Iraq, I'm halfway in between Ron Paul and Clinton/Obama/Edwards.
On the economy, I'm right on top of Richardson...poking him in the forehead.
On income, I'm picking Obama's nose.
National security...I'm apparently too far left to be near anyone, but I suppose it looks like I'm closest to Richardson.
On family, I'm also at the most liberal end, closest to Obama.
Immigration, I'm slightly more liberal than Richardson.
Health care, I'm left but not quite left enough to be on any of the Democratic candidates, mainly because I don't think we should force companies to provide health care but I do think health care should be guaranteed to all Americans.
Law and order, I'm way up in the top left corner, away from any of the candidates. Economically, I'm right on par with Edwards when it comes to law and order, but socially I'm closest to Paul.
On education, I'm halfway between Clinton and Obama, who are both very liberal socially on education, but Obama is slightly conservative economically and Clinton is quite liberal. (Interesting to note that Richardson is equally as liberal as Clinton when it comes to the economics of education, but he is dead center socially.)
Finally, on terrorism, I am again picking Obama's nose, who is apparently slightly more liberal than Paul (probably because he's willing to speak with Iran I guess).

I still haven't decided yet who I will vote for in the primaries.

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2008.JPG (15.6 KB, 150 views)

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Plan9

I know that's Fred Thompson at the bottom right, but I freaked out and saw Bill O'Reilly for a second and it really scared me.

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Willravel

I'm just North of Smeth! Welcome.

loquitur

Secret Method, Cynthetique, how did you get your grid copied?

Willravel

Take a pic of your desktop, crop, then host on photobucket.

Fotzlid

not too far from the center.
i'm just over the line to the economic left and about 1/4 of the way up on the social liberalism side. Ron Paul was the closest. Giuliani was the only R in my circle. all the Dems were in my circle
odd thing is i tend to vote Republican...

loquitur

Getting too far away from that point of origin sets off some alarms in my head.........

LoganSnake

Very interesting. Last time I took one of these, I scored in the lower left, close to the center. However, my circle is pretty broad...

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djtestudo

I'm a little south of Ron Paul, and a little northwest of Guliani.

Close to where I expected, near the center edging slightly towards conservative and more towards the right. Actually closer to Paul overall then I expected.

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jewels

Almost the same as LoganSnake but center is a little more towards the left.

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MSD

Interesting. With the exception of his extremist gun control stance, Obama is the candidate whose positions I find least objectionable. I'm almost directly between him and Ron Paul, who is the candidate who I object to most strongly (almost tied with Huckabee.)

This two-axis graph is a bit too one-dimensional for me.

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flstf

I agree especially the economics measurement.

Economic Left = Increase spending on liberal programs
Economic Right = Increase spending on conservative programs

There seems to be no place for those who want to decrease the size of the federal government. Regardless of what they say, all the candidates should be on the (increase the size of government) side except Ron Paul.

SecretMethod70

Indeed. Because of how I answer questions, I show up as economic left, but in reality I think I'm more center than that (at least in terms of overall governmental size). Basically, I think we ought to increase spending on some things and drastically reduce spending on others, but I think that the net result should be a large reduction in government spending. That kind of opinion isn't represented on these types of charts.

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loquitur

actually, as I understand the economic axis,
further left = more government involvement in economy
further right = more free market/laissez faire

SecretMethod70

technically, that's accurate, though I don't think most of these quizzes see it that way.

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Le temps détruit tout

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flstf

No matter which major party is in control, spending will continue to trend upward.

loquitur

unfortunately, flstf, tha'ts true. It's a function of the fact that politicians of any stripe get to use other people's money to buy votes. There has to be a way to break that pattern of behavior.

Sun Tzu

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ottopilot

If everyone suddenly registered as independents and withdrew all political financial support, we would have their full attention.

Could such a movement succeed in the U.S.?

BTW...


hmmm.
I'm registered Independent and don't really see Ron Paul as an electable candidate on any platform. Since this is from a Dutch website... I'd like to see what affiliations they may have snd how they categorized and ranked participants according to how the questions are written and their interpretation of each candidates stance.

Barmitt Obomney for President
If you could splice Barack Obama's charisma and ability to positively inspire with Mitt Romney's financial expertise and management/leadership skills, I'd probably vote for Barmitt Obomney. Otherwise, I'm just scratchin' my head on this one. IMO- What a sad group of candidates... can't we do better?

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loquitur

Dunno, Ottopilot, I take a totally different view. I think we have a wealth of good, qualified, talented candidates. In both parties. That doesn't mean I like everyone who is running, but overall this is an impressive bunch.

abaya

I'm in Smeth's neighborhood... just a smidgen down and to the left, but otherwise apparently voting for Obama, lol. We'll see.

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shoegirl

Same here... except I'm down and just a smidgen to the right. On all of the issues that I care the most about, I match up with Obama the most.

blktour

HOLY CRAP! I am right on the money with you. about 1cm off or so.

I didnt take a screen shot. i should tho. thats odd.