Just found a new survey on the net

http://www.votermind.com

It's self-described as a non-partisan voter education tool. It appears to be based out of Dallas, and the founder has an Oklahoma area code on his contact number, so it's from a geographic area that would tend conservative, but I didn't see any obvious indicia of bias. I tend to prefer the polls on some libertarian sites that separate social and economic issues, but there are two interesting things about this poll:
1. You weight the importance to you of various issues, as well as indicating your position.
2. Your can compare your views with various candidates.

I took the survey and it puts me just a shade to the right of center (they don't quantify it exactly, but looks like maybe 55% conservative). I think that's about right. Matching my views with various candidates, I tend to agree with most republicans in the 50-55% range and with most democrats in the 30-35% range.

Takes about 5 minutes. You rank issues in terms of importance, as well as answering specific questions about you positions on issues. Would be interested in results that others on here might get.

Needs a little work. Somehow, it could not match me to any possible candidates, even though I live in the district of, well, the House Minority Whip, who has 2 opponents this year (one left, one right). Oops!

They've got me at about 70-75% conservative. Actually being highly conservative but pro-choice, I thought the computer might explode, but it did match me up with (all Republican) candidates.

It matched me up with all Republican candidates, although the highest match score I received was 48% with John Faulk (running against SJL in CD-18). I got a 39% match with Rick Perry, which is ironic because that was his percentage of the popular vote in 2006.

What is really telling though is even though I scored well below 50% matched against Republicans...my scores against the Democrats must have been even lower. You'd think that if the left-liberal/right-conservative paradigm was solid, I would have been matched with at least a few D's.

The other problem I see is that on some issues, none of the answer choices gets close to my view on the subject.

It matched me with all Republicans too, although unlike Sleepy, the LOWEST match score I got was 59%. That left-liberal/right-conservative paradigm is a pretty good predictor of my scores.

I got 66% to 78% for California Democrats, the highest match being Senator Barbara Boxer. I guess I am pretty liberal.

I took the quiz, but didn't want to give my email address. I'm pretty sure I'm liberal, though I guess I'll never know for sure. I did think a few of the questions were odd. For instance, in energy they gave the options of supporting "investing in carbon-neutral renewable energy only" and "investing in renewable energy". I'm not a neophyte in this area, but I don't know what they're differentiating here. I also don't know what it means that when asked to choose the best solution for cutting the deficit, you don't have an option to cut spending and raise taxes.

Matched Bill White at 66%, and other TX Dems from 57% to 70%.

I "matched" one Republican (Susan Combs for Comptroller) at 30%.

I'm shocked I didn't match any Greens. The only explanation I can come up with is that they've only got Dems and Repubs in their database.

FWIW, I think this nailed me pretty accurately. While I'm a Bill White campaigner and very strong supporter (I thought he was the most effective mayor I've ever seen), and would urge anyone on the Parliament to vote for him, he's somewhat more conservative than I am. So I'm not surprised the match with him was a fair bit less than 100%.

(11-01-2010 05:17 PM)JOwl Wrote:  Matched Bill White at 66%, and other TX Dems from 57% to 70%.

I "matched" one Republican (Susan Combs for Comptroller) at 30%.

There's no Dem in that race.

(11-01-2010 05:17 PM)JOwl Wrote:  Matched Bill White at 66%, and other TX Dems from 57% to 70%.

I "matched" one Republican (Susan Combs for Comptroller) at 30%.

I'm shocked I didn't match any Greens. The only explanation I can come up with is that they've only got Dems and Repubs in their database.

FWIW, I think this nailed me pretty accurately. While I'm a Bill White campaigner and very strong supporter (I thought he was the most effective mayor I've ever seen), and would urge anyone on the Parliament to vote for him, he's somewhat more conservative than I am. So I'm not surprised the match with him was a fair bit less than 100%.

I was also disappointed that this was all cast in a repub versus dem way. I often vote liberatarian/green/indie if they don't come off as nutjobs, just because I hate both parties.

That said, I was matching local dems at a much higher rate than I expected - into the 80s. But, around here, the politics are skewed to the right necessarily because of the population. My national score was near dead-center.

And I did think the selection of topics a little odd. And the prioritization scheme, while I get what they're going for, doesn't really work like that. I think health care is important, but no where NEAR as important as kicking out all the lobbyists.

Finally, LOL at this question:

Quote:Q8. Do you support or oppose the theory of man-made global warming?

Do you support or oppose the theory of quantum gravity?

Personally I don't because the recent finding of time-correlation of x-rays in gamma-ray bursts. But what do I know!


Also, being persnickity, how the hell does a person oppose a scientific finding? You can argue that the conclusion is incorrect, but "oppose" makes it sound like AGW is an option one can go for, or not.

(11-01-2010 04:26 PM)chapel hill owl Wrote:  I took the quiz, but didn't want to give my email address. I'm pretty sure I'm liberal, though I guess I'll never know for sure. I did think a few of the questions were odd. For instance, in energy they gave the options of supporting "investing in carbon-neutral renewable energy only" and "investing in renewable energy". I'm not a neophyte in this area, but I don't know what they're differentiating here. I also don't know what it means that when asked to choose the best solution for cutting the deficit, you don't have an option to cut spending and raise taxes.

I thought the choices were way too crude for me to answer as I would have liked for a number of things. But I guess I don't want to answer a 50 question survey either.

Interesting idea, but flawed execution as others have noted.

To be a "moderate" you need to answer "I don't know/don't care" to every question! ROTFL

By this analysis I am very conservative on foreign policy, liberal to very liberal on social issues and by my take, confused by their (lack) of choices on economic questions.

Still, fun to play.