So, just how left/right/authoritarian/libertarian are we?

FourOhFour · Mar 31, 2006

OK, I hope you are reading this before voting... Take this test, it's 6 pages, shouldn't take too long. Plug your results into the poll here... it'll be interesting to see where PriusChat lies.

Mystery Squid · Mar 31, 2006

This is embarassing... I answered truthfully and got:

Economic Left/Right: -3.63
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.15

In the same quadrant as Ghandi and Mandela... :lol:

efusco · Mar 31, 2006

My Graph

Economic Left/Right: -0.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.49

I voted before taking the test...quite a difference in my answers.

mark_hamrick · Mar 31, 2006

After doing the test...
-3.75 economic
-5.08 social libertarian
interesting to see the results so far...

Spunky · Mar 31, 2006

Very interesting test. Can't wait until the hubby comes home and takes it so we can compare results.

Economic: -5.13.
This from the chick who enjoys watching the stock market and reading the Economist and the Wall Street Journal. So I believe business has no conscience and the Enron debacle didn't surprise me, sue me.

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.77
I've tested to the left of Hillary so this surprised me. Guess I've become more conservative as I've aged...er...gained more experience in life.

efusco · Mar 31, 2006

The thing this test fails to emphesis, I think, is how for many people it is a handful of issues that tend to influence our thinking/voting.

As a "rich doctor" the general belief is that I should be a fiscal conservative and therefore a Republican so those tax and spend liberals won't keep taking away my hard earned cash. And trust me, I would love to not be in the highest tax bracket being punished for spending the first 30 years of my life in school before starting to make an income above the poverty level. Then then next 5 years paying off debt so I could immediately start trying to save for retirement. To that end voting republican would certainly benefit me, personally, very nicely.

But the social/cultural aspects of life mean more to me than money...and to that end I'm a liberal. I think individual freedoms, acceptance of other cultures/believes/morays, etc. are greater causes than puting a few thousand bucks extra in my own pocket.

There are obviously other issues involved here, I'm not trying to turn this discussion into a liberal vs conservative one, but rather just trying to make the point that there's a big difference in how we live our lives and what our overriding beliefs are and what is revealed in a short 'test' with only 4 possible answers to some very narrow questions.

Mystery Squid · Mar 31, 2006

I would also like to point out that many questions were too "simplstic" to answer with, essentially, two options...

h34r:

Fun nonetheless...

(oops, didn't fully read doc's post... lol)

mark_hamrick · Mar 31, 2006

BRAVO efusco! Well said...as a medical coder working for a group of ER docs, I know what you're speaking about. I agree that the list of questions is narrowly focused, but it's interesting at any rate.

FourOhFour · Mar 31, 2006

Well... in hindsight, I should have copied and posted my results. I was in the general vicinity of -4,-4. Within a few tenths, anyway. I was expecting to be more central fiscally, and more libertarian socially.

Interesting that most of us are in the left/libertarian quadrant. There is a map of the candidates from the 04 election if you want to compare yourself to your favorite candidate. (Both Kerry and Bush are in the right/authoritarian quadrant.)

dsunman · Mar 31, 2006

Nice, here's how I scored:

Economic Left/Right: -5.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.36

Close to Ghandi, although I have some issues with Ghandi's pacifism, especially when he was questioned about Hitler and his treatment of Jewish population. One of his biggest known blunders! I think he resorted later on to more pragmatic pacifism.

hycamguy07 · Mar 31, 2006

My Graph

Economic Left/Right: -0.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: +3.33

LOL, Im always different.... :huh:

bgdrewsif · Mar 31, 2006

Well this was my score:
Economic Left/Right: -6.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.26

hdrygas · Mar 31, 2006

Economic Left/Right: -3.25 Socal Libertarian/Authoritarian -4.51

LoveBeingGreen · Mar 31, 2006

Economic Left/Right: -4.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.00

Right in there with Ghandi, the Dalai, and Mandela. Not bad company! :lol:

ghostofjk · Mar 31, 2006

-6.88; -3.64

Wonder how the Pope would enjoy knowing that, in his quadrant, he can look over his shoulder and see Saddam

Schmika · Mar 31, 2006

Fun little game but too simplistic. I was almost dead center. Right 1 and up 1.

Though, I think people who "surprised" themselves suffer from a "bi-polar" syndrome. Thinking one thing, but answering publicly....(even putting it down in black and white to yourself is public) a different way.

I talk to a lot of people who speak one way and act another. Let's face it, ACTIONS show the kind of person you really are.

galaxee · Mar 31, 2006

Economic: -5.00
Social: -2.67

micheal · Apr 1, 2006

Apparently, I would have gotten along with Mandela and Gandhi and should have voted for Nader.

Economic -5.63
Social -2.72

The scale was skewed with the only four options and wasn't the 7pt Likert scale that would be better statistically. The test people probably don't care too much about that though. There were several questions that I could have went either way and wanted clarification or to clarify my response.

Schmika is right though in that the one thing we know from survey research is people aren't always honest on them, for many reasons.

OverTork · Apr 1, 2006

It seemed simplistic to me too but my results are probably in the ballpark.

Economic: +4
Social: -4

seeh2o · Apr 1, 2006

My political compass:

Economic Left/Right: -5.63

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.87

Fun stuff, thanks for posting it.

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So, just how left/right/authoritarian/libertarian are we?

Political Compass results (see post before voting)

+9 (Up/Authoritarian)

+8

+7

+6

+5

+4

+3

+2

+1

0 (Center)

-1

-2

-3

-4

-5

-6

-7

-8

-9 (Down/Libertarian)

FourOhFour Member

Mystery Squid Junior Member

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Mystery Squid Junior Member

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Schmika New Member

galaxee mostly benevolent

micheal I feel pretty, oh so pretty.

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