# Your political leanings **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 21, 2013, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808 "2013-10-21T12:09:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/21 "2013-10-21T17:42:19Z")
100% with Democrats, exactly as I figured. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/22 "2013-10-21T17:51:59Z")
Thoughts: Grr… I hate non-Likert scales. If I had no opinion, I chose one option and did “Least concern.” I understand medical marijuana, but it’s odd that drugs are under “domestic policy,” and pot is under “healthcare.” And some stupid questions like “Should the U.S. intervene in the affairs of other countries?” Yes, if it affects us negatively to sit around, no if we’re talking nuking Belgium because we don’t like their PM. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/23 "2013-10-21T18:30:09Z")
Libertarians: 74% Green Party: 72% Democrats: 70% Republicans: 34% Socialists: 33% So I apparently disagree strongly with Republicans and Socialists. What strange bedfellows. The information on Federal pensions (under Economic Issues) is inaccurate and slightly misleading. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/24 "2013-10-21T18:33:58Z")
Democrats 94% Green Party 87% Socialist 66% Libertarians 20% Republicans 4% ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/25 "2013-10-21T19:13:11Z")
Parties you side with… 61% Democrats 56% Green Party 51% Socialist 46% Libertarians 30% Republicans These sort of polls don’t really work for me because my positions don’t often match any of the options. I pick the “closest” in a more-or-less arbitrary way. This poll did well in the misfit, though. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/26 "2013-10-21T19:34:04Z")
Libertarian - 74% Republican - 68% Democrat - 64% Green - 62% Socialist - 39% I am not sure what to make of those results, especially the last one compared with the first. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/27 "2013-10-21T20:58:15Z")
Some of the questions and answers are poorly worded, even when you get beyond the two catchall options into “choose another stance”; one of the problems with two-party politics in general and U.S. politics in particular is that there aren’t two positions on most issues, let alone two sets of positions. Eventually it just defaulted to offering me the full range of options for each question, which is a bit of an improvement. For same-sex marriage, for example, neither “yes” nor “take the government out of it” exactly fits my position, though the other choices are even worse. Compounding this, there are questions on whhich the answer choices aren’t mutually exclusive. It also seems to have a flawed understanding of the role of the states vis-a-vis the Federal governemnt, or else I do. The global warming question seems to miss the point of the issue, or at least to strawman all sides. There were a couple where I definitely felt the devil was in the details – where, progressive as I am, I am skeptical about government’s ability to do what the question was asking about optimally. The public school question in particular; my inclination is to attach funding to performance, but I can’t figure out how to get around Goodhart’s law. How Orwellian is the statement “the faster the military can gain power the sooner the violence will end”? NOW, THE RESULTS: 80% Green 78% Democratic 71% Socialist 27% Libertarian 7% Republican Democratic on science, domestic policy, and foreign policy, Republican on environment (which suggests I didn’t understand the questions), Socialist on immigration, and Green on everything else except current events (where I’m apparently all over the map). I’m not sure what to do with this information under FPTP voting, though. I’m surprised I’m more D than Socialist. I think reducing my political beliefs – or any thinking person’s – to a handful of numbers is extremely lossy at best. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/28 "2013-10-21T21:26:58Z")
98% Green 95% Democratic 80% Socialist 31% Libertarian 0% Republican Yeahbut - the Green Party isn’t really a thing (unfortunately), and the Republican Party is (unfortunately). ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/29 "2013-10-21T21:34:58Z")
My results: 88% Democrats 81% Green Party 52% Libertarians 41% Socialist 27% Republican I agree 77% with Barack Obama and 81% with Bob Casey, my state Senator. Imagine that. And to think that just last week I was accused of being a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/30 "2013-10-21T21:39:28Z")
Green Party on foreign policy, social, science, environmental, and domestic policy issues 78% Democrats on social, economic, science, environmental, healthcare, and domestic policy issues 73% Libertarians on foreign policy, healthcare, and domestic policy issues 57% Socialist on social and environmental issues 17% Republicans no major issues Did all you guys not see the breakdown by issue, or was there some other page that summed across all issues that I missed? At any rate, this does not seem quite right to me. I doubt I’m with the Green Party on environmental and domestic issues. I said I didn’t want the Feds to raise the MW, so it would seem I agree with the Republicans on at least 1 issue… ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/31 "2013-10-21T22:41:25Z")
Interesting: Democrats 60% Republicans 58% Green Party 52% Libertarians 39% Socialist 18% By issue: Science - Green Party Current Events - “You do not side with any candidates.” Foreign Policy - Republicans The Economy - Republicans Domestic Policy - Republicans The Environment - Green Party Healthcare - Libertarians Social - Democrats Immigration - Democrats Now, I’m a dyed in the wool Republican, so what happened here is probably two fold. Firstly, it’s a simplistic internet quiz trying to condense an individuals complex political ideology. Secondly, you can see that on the trifecta of things that are really important to me, I side with the Republicans (Foreign Policy, Economy, Domestic Policy.) However, I’ve always been a strong environmentalist, and that’s always been to a degree something that makes me an outlier from the standard GOP voter. I think the strong votes I had for the environmental issues in the quiz identified me most closely with the Green Party on those issues and the Democrats as #2 on those issues. I’m guessing on FP/Economy/Domestic Policy the Democrats were #2 behind the GOP but not by a huge margin, so my environmentalist and pro-NASA votes on Science/Environment pushed me overall slightly to the Democrats. In the real world the most important issues I identify with the Republicans, so would still typically vote for Republican candidates. Even on the environmental issues I think the question selection probably paints an inaccurate picture. For example I’m a very big supporter of national parks, one of the questions was whether the Federal Government should continue to protect / manage land in national parks. I’m also someone who defers to scientists on scientific issues, so I voted that Global Warming is a threat to the environment. But if there had been questions about things like Keystone XL (which I strongly support), or nuclear power (which I support with the fervor of a fanatic) I imagine I wouldn’t be considered as “Green.” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/32 "2013-10-21T22:47:17Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Did all you guys not see the breakdown by issue, or was there some other page that summed across all issues that I missed? At any rate, this does not seem quite right to me. I doubt I’m with the Green Party on environmental and domestic issues. I said I didn’t want the Feds to raise the MW, so it would seem I agree with the Republicans on at least 1 issue… It gives both types of breakdowns. The overall percentages come just before the breakdown by issues. You might have had a scrolling problem and not noticed the overall numbers. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/33 "2013-10-21T22:54:26Z")
Democrats on social, environmental, immigration, science, economic, domestic policy, foreign policy, and healthcare issues: 90% Green Party on social, environmental, immigration, science, and healthcare issues: 88% Socialist on social, immigration, environmental, healthcare, and economic issues: 75% Libertarians on domestic policy, healthcare, and immigration issues: 54% Republicans no major issues: 13% Hmm, I side with 52% of american voters and 50% of Texas voters. There’s hope for Wendy Davis yet. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/34 "2013-10-21T23:55:20Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It gives both types of breakdowns. The overall percentages come just before the breakdown by issues. You might have had a scrolling problem and not noticed the overall numbers. No, that was the very first thing listed. Maybe you didn’t notice that the areas of agreement were not the same across all parties. **scabpicker’s** post is just like mine. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/35 "2013-10-22T00:47:15Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No, that was the very first thing listed. Maybe you didn’t notice that the areas of agreement were not the same across all parties. **scabpicker’s** post is just like mine. It is very strange. I took it again and not only was the layout different than the first time, but many of the questions were too. I think they made a change while this thread was in progress. My results were quite different as well and not something I agree with superficially based on the last one I took. I answered almost every question ‘other choices’ rather than a simple yes/no and I am not sure how it weights those. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/36 "2013-10-22T01:11:18Z")
**Martin Hyde** , did you notice that each question also had a slider to indicate how important that issue was to you? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/37 "2013-10-22T03:46:02Z")
**Party** Green Party 97% Democrats 93% Socialist 73% Libertarians 37% Republicans 1% **Presidential Candidates** Jill Stein (Green) 94% Barack Obama (Democrat) 80% Gary Johnson (Libertarian) 77% Rocky Anderson (Justice) 74% Ron Paul (Libertarian) 9% Mitt Romney (Republican) 1% ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/38 "2013-10-22T05:44:52Z")
By Party: Democrats-74% Green Party-54% Socialist-41% Republicans-23% Libertarians-23% By Issue: Healthcare-Democrats Economy-Democrats Foreign Policy-Democrats Immigration-Libertarians Domestic Policy-Greens Environment-Greens Science-Greens Social-Republicans By Presidential Candidate: Barack Obama-75% Jill Stein-59% Rocky Anderson-51% Gary Johnson-34% Ron Paul-24% Mitt Romney-13% Virgil Goode-6% Senate: Dianne Feinstein-78% Elizabeth Emken-23% FWIW, I basically consider myself a National Progressive in ideological terms-strong commitment to nationalism and Western Civilization as an underlying ideal, social market economy, globalization/free trade, technocratic/“big ideas” (ie high speed rail or nuclear power), internationalism in foreign policy, and social libertarianism except on life issues. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/39 "2013-10-22T10:57:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Martin Hyde** , did you notice that each question also had a slider to indicate how important that issue was to you? Yes. But some of the particular environmental issues they asked about for example are quite important to me, while I care much more about say, the economy and foreign policy than my environmental issues in total. It’s not really that likely that such a small set of questions can meaningfully gauge your total politics. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808/40 "2013-10-22T11:16:13Z")
Dems. 92% Green 90% Socialists 69% Libertarians 34% GOP 4% (I feel dirty) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-political-leanings/671808.md?page=3)