8, which sounds about right, but like all quizzes of this type it cannot capture the complexities of the political zeitgeist. Especailly in the U.S., where the two major parties are both fractured – liberals like big government but no social regulation, conservatives distrust government unless it’s regulating morality. Each group is in tension with itself. This impairs the ability of the quiz to give meaningful results because one person would answer questions about the size of government differently in a, say, environmental or tax context vs. one about religion or sex. Therefore, when the context of the question is not explicit on its face, the test-taker must try to figure out if the quiz is asking about social/moral regulation or more general commercial regulation and answer accordingly. As such, the better the taker is at inferring this, the more closely the test will track his actual political choices.
I also think there’s a conservative bias in the construction of the question on tax increases because “me” is the first choice in the list, and people moving quickly through the questions are unlikely to click it, or at least less likely to click it when it’s the first option presented, before they see the other groups over which they can spread the tax increase.
–Cliffy
[…wiping tears…] Lordy. It’s like asking which I prefer more: having my fingernails ripped out or having my toenails ripped out.
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