Select a candidate quiz
October 8th 2007 08:48
There's an interesting quiz at the wqad.com website. You answer 11 questions and the survey will tell you which presidential candidate's views are most closely aligned with yours.
Based on the quiz, I most closely align with (in order) Duncan Hunter, Sam Brownback, and Fred Thompson. That's pretty accurate for me. I have liked Duncan Hunter since the day he declared his candidacy and I do like his positions on most of the issues. I do align pretty well with Sam Brownback on social issues, but not on some other issues. And I have been very interested in Fred Thompson since he announced. I'm still waiting to hear all of his positions on the various issues, but I like what I've heard thus far. So the quiz is pretty accurate for me.
One thing the quiz does well is that it covers many of the salient issues in this election. Additionally, it provides for some weighting on each of the issues by asking how important you think each one is. If you think that one topic is "very important", but another is "not important", you can express that.
On the other hand, the weighting in terms of importance is not quite robust enough. For many people, one issue or another is far and away the most important issue. For instance, the war in Iraq may be THE issue to some people in 2008. I suppose you could apply that opinion by marking the Iraq question as "very important" and most of the other issues as "not important", but I'm not sure if the calculations would accurately capture that.
Also, the quiz doesn't really factor in intangibles. Folks may like a candidate, but would not support him/her because they don't think the candidate can win. That's true for me when it comes to Duncan Hunter. I wish he could win, but I just don't think he can. As a result, I won't really commit to him as "my" candidate. Also, there are some candidates whom you would NEVER consider voting for -- regardless of their positions on the issues. For me, that candidate is Hillary. She was in the middle of the pack in my results. Apparently, I agree with her views on some issues and I don't on other issues. However, I would NEVER vote for her. I arrived at that position for a number of reasons. It's not based solely on her political views.
Finally, the quiz can only be as good as the information behind it. Does it really know the views of all the candidates? Mitt Romney has a bad habit of changing his views over time. Likewise, Hillary keeps triangulating her views to what she sees as the most optimum positions. But what does she REALLY think? Does anyone really know?
Any quiz like this will have a number of limitations. To its credit, it doesn't try to be more than it really is: A comparison of a person's view to the expressed views of the candidates. In that respect, I found the quiz useful and interesting. If I wasn't such a political junkie, I think this quiz would've been a great starting point for researching the candidates.
Based on the quiz, I most closely align with (in order) Duncan Hunter, Sam Brownback, and Fred Thompson. That's pretty accurate for me. I have liked Duncan Hunter since the day he declared his candidacy and I do like his positions on most of the issues. I do align pretty well with Sam Brownback on social issues, but not on some other issues. And I have been very interested in Fred Thompson since he announced. I'm still waiting to hear all of his positions on the various issues, but I like what I've heard thus far. So the quiz is pretty accurate for me.
One thing the quiz does well is that it covers many of the salient issues in this election. Additionally, it provides for some weighting on each of the issues by asking how important you think each one is. If you think that one topic is "very important", but another is "not important", you can express that.
On the other hand, the weighting in terms of importance is not quite robust enough. For many people, one issue or another is far and away the most important issue. For instance, the war in Iraq may be THE issue to some people in 2008. I suppose you could apply that opinion by marking the Iraq question as "very important" and most of the other issues as "not important", but I'm not sure if the calculations would accurately capture that.
Also, the quiz doesn't really factor in intangibles. Folks may like a candidate, but would not support him/her because they don't think the candidate can win. That's true for me when it comes to Duncan Hunter. I wish he could win, but I just don't think he can. As a result, I won't really commit to him as "my" candidate. Also, there are some candidates whom you would NEVER consider voting for -- regardless of their positions on the issues. For me, that candidate is Hillary. She was in the middle of the pack in my results. Apparently, I agree with her views on some issues and I don't on other issues. However, I would NEVER vote for her. I arrived at that position for a number of reasons. It's not based solely on her political views.
Finally, the quiz can only be as good as the information behind it. Does it really know the views of all the candidates? Mitt Romney has a bad habit of changing his views over time. Likewise, Hillary keeps triangulating her views to what she sees as the most optimum positions. But what does she REALLY think? Does anyone really know?
Any quiz like this will have a number of limitations. To its credit, it doesn't try to be more than it really is: A comparison of a person's view to the expressed views of the candidates. In that respect, I found the quiz useful and interesting. If I wasn't such a political junkie, I think this quiz would've been a great starting point for researching the candidates.
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