Ship of Fools: I side with political party placement quiz

Thread: I side with political party placement quiz Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=027250

Posted by stonespring (# 15530) on :

So there's a neat website with a regularly-updated political quiz (ok, so maybe a few months out of date, but more up to date than elsewhere) about what political party most closely matches your views. If you click around, you'll find that there are lots of nuanced extra options to the multiple choice questions, which is nice. There are quizzes for different English-speaking countries (no NZ, though [Frown]

), and India, too.

US: http://www.isidewith.com/political-quiz

UK: http://uk.isidewith.com/political-quiz

Canada: http://canada.isidewith.com/political-quiz

Australia: http://australia.isidewith.com/political-quiz

India: http://india.isidewith.com/political-quiz

My results:

US: Green 1st, followed by Democrats

UK: SNP and Plaid Cymru 1st! Followed by Labour, then LibDems. If I lived in England, then I guess Labour would be first.

Canada: Liberals and NDP tied at 1st (?!), followed by Greens.

Australia: Greens 1st, followed by Labor.

India: Congress (the only other option in the quiz was BJP, so it isn't very realistic)

What are your results? What do you think of the quizzes?

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

86% Green

No surprise there as I vote Green [Smile]

Posted by Kitten (# 1179) on :

85% Lib Dem. No complaints there

Posted by Curious Kitten (# 11953) on :

If I ignore the similar answers that were directly opposed to my answers then I got Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru about equal. It actually gave me Labour as top but I either disagree with them or they don't have a stance on everything I actually care about.

I would argue it isn't very good at weighting what is a similar answer or what is important. I'm not going to vote for a party I disagree with on all the points that matter most to me or don't have a stated stance.

[ 24. June 2014, 17:02: Message edited by: Curious Kitten ]

Posted by IngoB (# 8700) on :

US: 92% Greens
UK: 86% Liberal Democrats
Canada: 85% Liberal
Australia: 72% Greens
India: tie (79% Gandhi, 78% Modi)

I guess this is a fair reflection of my political position apart from SoF's DH issues.

Posted by Caissa (# 16710) on :

US- Greens 97%; Democrats- 92%
UK- SNP-91%; Labour/Lib Dems- 90%
Canada- NDP 84% (I am a member of this party.)
Australia- Greens 77%

Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :

I'm mostly Democrat (no surprise there!), a little bit of Green party and, shock/gasp, 27% Republican! Wow. That's because I'm for stricter immigration policies, stronger borders, strong military, etc. However, I voted vehemently against U.S. drones going into countries and killing suspected terrorists. I'm also very much against having "In God We Trust" on our currency and religious craptrap on public buildings. Yes, I said CRAPtrap. [Biased]

Posted by Lucia (# 15201) on :

Interestingly I come out as mainly agreeing with the only mainstream party that I have never actually voted for...

Maybe in the future when I am back living in the UK I will have to consider very carefully where to place my X... [Paranoid]

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :

This thread scores 100% Circus material, so hold your hats as I shift you across the aisle.

Gwai
Purgatory Host

Posted by stonespring (# 15530) on :

I've long debated with myself whether in Canada I would be more Liberal or NDP, in the UK I would be more Labour or LibDem (I don't think I would vote for one of the nationalist parties), and in Australia if I would be more Labor or Green. Being married to an Aussie who talks about maybe moving home or to Canada or the UK one day, these are more than just idle musings. Outside of Australia, where I can rank candidates in order of preference, I would vote for a party that I think had a chance of winning (and that if it won that seat had a chance of making a difference in the legislature). This makes my choices easier in the UK (I'd probably stick with Labour - the LibDems haven't made up their mind yet on what they actually believe).

But in Canada I have no idea whom I'd vote for. Are the Liberals and NDP really as close together in policy as this quiz seems to indicate? I worry the NDP might be a bit too isolationist in terms of trade and foreign policy. But the Liberals might be as politically spineless and opportunistic as the LibDems have been lately in the UK in their fight for political survival.

The sad thing is I think part of me would actually be happier in the NDP or the LibDems since they are more "idealistic" parties. I guess it's all part of my quandary of being a dreamer that likes to see things get done.

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :

quote:
Originally posted by stonespring:
Are the Liberals and NDP really as close together in policy as this quiz seems to indicate?

I'm not sure I think much of these quizzes. I took the US one, and scored in the mid-60s against the Republicans, Democrats, Greens and Libertarians.

Unless most of the policies are actually things like "Do you agree that the most common number of legs for a human to have is two?" then I don't think that's possible...

Posted by Anglican't (# 15292) on :

Interesting results. I got:

UK: 99% with the Conservatives (reassuring);
US: 77% with Democrats on foreign, domestic, social and education issues, 77% with Republicans on immigration, environmental and economic issues;
Canada: 93% with the Conservatives
Australia: 65% with Labor, surprisingly (compared to 62% for the Liberals).

As LC says, I think these sort of things can be flawed, not least by the fact that I think it's tricky to identify with some issues if one isn't in the country. I scored 79% for each of the Indian parties, but found I had to guess some answers because I was clueless about the issues involved.

Posted by Curious Kitten (# 11953) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:

quote:
Originally posted by stonespring:
Are the Liberals and NDP really as close together in policy as this quiz seems to indicate?
I'm not sure I think much of these quizzes. I took the US one, and scored in the mid-60s against the Republicans, Democrats, Greens and Libertarians.

Unless most of the policies are actually things like "Do you agree that the most common number of legs for a human to have is two?" then I don't think that's possible...

That's what I was commenting on. If you check the actual result you'll find you were marked as disagreeing with parties despite having the same answer or agreeing with parties who's answer you vehemently oppose.

I got 89% for Labour and knew everything I'd marked as important to me I disagreed with the Labour party's stance or agreed with the Greens and was being told I didn't.

Posted by stonespring (# 15530) on :

Most of the questions other than "more or less funding/taxes for X" seemed pretty universal, with a few big exceptions. I think the quiz isn't bad compared with a lot of the others I've seen. All of these quizzes are flawed, of course.

I'm not sure whether, across countries, I am a Social Democrat, a Social Liberal, or a Green. Australia is the only country of the ones covered with these quizzes where the Greens have anything close to political power.

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

Interesting. I charted at 88% Democrats, but 83% Green. And, according to this, I am more Libertarian (21%) than Republican (19%).

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Anglican't:
Interesting results. I got:

UK: 99% with the Conservatives (reassuring);

Far more reassuringly I got 4% agreement with the Conservatives. And only 1% with UKIP (which I still feel is too high).

US == 79% for both Greens and Democrats
UK == Labour Green Scottish nationals and Plaid Cymru all were up there
Canada == New Democratic and Liberal
Australia == Greens
India == Indian National Congress 96% the best score on any.

As for are these tests meaningful? I don't know, but on another test I came out as Liberal Democrat in the UK, this test the LibDems were 5th. No consistency there. What does this teach, apart from I waste time on quizzes.

Posted by GCabot (# 18074) on :

U.S. - 94% Republicans, 69% Libertarians
U.K. - 95% Conservatives, 90% UKIP
Canada - 90% Conservatives
Australia - 63% Liberals
India - 76% Bharatiya Janata, 75% Aam Aadmi, 75% Indian National Congress (Someone is going to have to explain this one to me.)

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :

I was 90% Green in the US and 88% for Green and Labour in the UK (classed as a Green voter because the issues I tagged as most important for me were ones I agreed with the Green party on). I was surprised to get such a high score for Labour.

Interesting to compare the different questions that define someone's political stance; the US quiz includes questions about gun control and abortion which aren't controversial issues here in the UK (just about everyone is pro-gun-control and pro-choice).

I would have thought most Europeans taking the US quiz would be defined as Greens or Socialists; American political parties are much further right than the mainstream political parties over here, though ours have become more right-wing in recent years.

Posted by deano (# 12063) on :

93% Conservative Party. Yep.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

94% Green
92% Scottish nationalist (odd since I oppose their independence
92% Labour - thought that would come top but they aren't a socialist party anymore
90% LibDem - but they are turncoats and won't ever get my vote

Fortunately, the Tories did not figure so I don't need to go to confession for a while.

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :

77% Plaid, but 39% BNP.

I don't know if I can live with 39% of myself anymore. I agree with the BNP on something.

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :

Ariston:

quote:
I agree with the BNP on an idea they nicked from someone sane.

Fixed that for you.

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

Lib-Dem and Labour me!

Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :

94% labour 80% lib dem. no surprises there as I am a labour supporter who votes for the most left leaning lib dem in parliament.

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

quote:
Originally posted by leo:
92% Scottish nationalist (odd since I oppose their independence

Scottish and Welsh Nationalists are a very different animal to Nationalists in England. They occupy the political spectrum roughly where Labour were under Wilson, before Blair turned them into moderate Tories.

If you want a socialist government move to one of the Celtic countries.

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0