# The Political Bias Test **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2017, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560 "2017-08-01T09:51:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/1 "2017-08-01T09:51:51Z")
> **[How biased are your views of the world?](https://programs.clearerthinking.org/political_bias_test.html)** > > Discover and understand your political bias with our unbiased and scientific Political Bias Test. This is really cool. Basically, it first asks you for your own assessment of your political views. Then you get asked a set of questions on various factual issues that correlate with policies (for example, whether concealed carry leads to less crime, or whether global warming exists), and they tell you not only how many you got wrong and where, but how much bias shows in how you answer the questions. It’s not a perfect tool by any stretch, and I wish it would go into more detail in the results about how it reached its numbers, but it does give some interesting thoughts as to what’s going on, and is useful to help calibrate. I scored in the top 40% WRT accuracy and right on the mean on bias. Check it out! How did you do? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/2 "2017-08-01T10:11:20Z")
I got a 0% bias and 61% correct. Two of the questions that tripped me up were determined by consensus, which, of course, is bollocks where science is concerned. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/3 "2017-08-01T11:03:12Z")
Zero political bias. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/4 "2017-08-01T11:15:54Z")
83.33% correct answers, 23.57% biased. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/5 "2017-08-01T11:38:35Z")
77.78% correct answers, 40.82% political bias. To be fair, a number of my answers would have been “I have no idea - I’ll go look it up”. I try to avoid jumping to conclusions about factually verifiable things if I can help it. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/6 "2017-08-01T12:38:29Z")
How can they score these correct or incorrect when many of the questions do not have factual answers? As slanted as the questions are and as open to interpretation are the “facts” I don’t see any validity in this implement. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/7 "2017-08-01T14:11:24Z")
I scored quite shittily on the test but I’ll admit that I’m not in the habit of comparing many things to the EU. I did know that they all want to move here to our humble land and make socialist out of all of us, though 😃 _“On a scale of 0-100%, your total political bias was 40.82%.”_ I’m still undecided about just how meaningful that is, however. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/8 "2017-08-01T14:23:00Z")
0% bias, 44% correct. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/9 "2017-08-01T14:25:56Z")
86% correct. 0% bias. I don’t agree with all the answers, for instance asking “Are genetically modified foods (GMO’s) unsafe for humans due to being genetically modified?” the correct answer is “We don’t know as of yet”. Just because we haven’t detected any direct harm from the consumption of GMOs doesn’t mean there isn’t any, nor does it mean there aren’t indirect harmful effects not yet known or quantified. So there’s a bias in the poll itself. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/10 "2017-08-01T14:28:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 86% correct. > 0% bias. > > I don’t agree with all the answers, for instance asking “Are genetically modified foods (GMO’s) unsafe for humans due to being genetically modified?” the correct answer is “We don’t know as of yet”. Just because we haven’t detected any direct harm from the consumption of GMOs doesn’t mean there isn’t any, nor does it mean there aren’t indirect harmful effects not yet known or quantified. So there’s a bias in the poll itself. This. The survey too airily and easily dictated Yes/No answers on subjects for which the truthful answer is “We don’t know yet.” It did come across as slanted and agenda-laden itself. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/11 "2017-08-01T14:41:50Z")
66.67% correct - zero bias. But the test is BS. There are very few science questions that can be answered correctly without including the word “probably”. Or economic questions, for that matter. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/12 "2017-08-01T14:58:08Z")
Around 50% correct and about half that for bias. Busted. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/13 "2017-08-01T15:11:11Z")
The correct answers are determined by whatever the consensus is, not whether something is factually true. I see that as a problem with the survey. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/14 "2017-08-01T15:28:38Z")
62% bias. I agree that many of the questions are highly subjective. We _can_ theoretically contain nuclear waste safely for decades, but in practice we seldom _do_. And the death penalty answer - “we don’t know” - is based on _one study_. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/15 "2017-08-01T15:34:05Z")
61% Correct 0% Bias Not bad for someone who literally guessed on literally every single question because I pay no attention to politics whatesoever. I figured the questions would be more vague than they were, but once I found out how precise they were, I finished the test just to see. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/16 "2017-08-01T16:59:43Z")
51% biased, 85th percentile for correctness (which sounds better than 10/18 correct.) I would dispute the test’s exhibited certainty for some of the “correct” answers. For instance, whether it would be “better” for the average citizen if we were to encourage the immigration of highly educated foreigners is an answer that cannot be objectively given since what is “better” is entirely based on relative values. But nope, the test knows what is best for us, the answer is “yes”, and not “we dont’ know.” Also, based on what was marked wrong, I’m pretty sure that the test rates me as conservatively biased. _Chortle_ ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/17 "2017-08-01T17:07:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 86% correct. > 0% bias. > > I don’t agree with all the answers, for instance asking “Are genetically modified foods (GMO’s) unsafe for humans due to being genetically modified?” the correct answer is “We don’t know as of yet”. Just because we haven’t detected any direct harm from the consumption of GMOs doesn’t mean there isn’t any, nor does it mean there aren’t indirect harmful effects not yet known or quantified. So there’s a bias in the poll itself. They did say “according to scientific consensus.” Also, it’s been decades. Unless you’re in the habit of labelling _all_ scientific questions as “we don’t know yet,” “No” is the correct answer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/18 "2017-08-01T17:23:04Z")
85th percentile for correctness, too, because I agree that that sounds better than 10/18 correct! 0% bias, but I must admit that the test made me feel uncomfortable. If a topic like that comes up in a conversation (i.e., a politically laden question to which I don’t know the answer), I am inclined to just admit that I don’t know. The fact that “I don’t know” wasn’t an answer really pulled me out of my comfort zone. Also, I agree with the earlier post about GMOs. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/19 "2017-08-01T17:40:19Z")
56% Correct 0% Bias I answered the poll incorrectly, since I based it upon % correct. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560/20 "2017-08-01T17:44:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > …We _can_ theoretically contain nuclear waste safely for decades, but in practice we seldom _do_… Oh? What do you figure we do with it, if not store it safely? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-political-bias-test/792560.md?page=2)