A funny thing happened when I got a conservative to take an online...

[JanMichael]

...political leanings test, the Political Compass test.

The test itself is not without fault, rarely is any online opinion survey THAT good, but it's easy fast and in my experiance pretty damned accurate even with a a couple of questionable questions.

Anyway, this "conservative" Bush voter, a religious conservative too, scores a:

Economic Left/Right: -5.5
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.9

Hmmm? Turns out he's a hardcore environmentalist and is on the economic equity "levelling" bandwagon, who knew:shrug:

Has anyone else had a conservative take this test or a similar test? Were you somewhat befuddled by the results?

BTW I took it again and got:

Economic Left/Right: -9.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.69

Weird man, weird...

[Cleita]

1. How can he call himself a conservative if those are the

things he believes in? Better inform him, he's a liberal and that he should stop voting for conservatives who do not share his views.

[JanMichael]

2. Baby steps.

However, and I know this freaks some people out, but Kerry falls in the upper right quaderant right along with Michael Howard and Tony Blair. Obviously Generallisimo el Busho is the "rightest" but the neo-Liberal swings over the last decade have left few in the Economic "Left" to vote for.

Plus I'd add that the social/religious issues are where the CONservatives catch him.

[lvx35]

3. most conservatives want closed borders, and no chinese goods

They bitch about american jobs going overseas, and mexicans coming in...two things Bush is a big supporter of.

[ComerPerro]

13. But hasn't done a damn thing about

That's what annoys me.

Conservatives bitch about open borders, how liberals don't do anything about it and let Mexicans take our jobs.

Dumbasses! Bush is in power, with a Republican congress, and he hasn't even acknowledged the issue!

[TahitiNut]

4. Not really too surprising. Americans are politically illiterate.

Even on DU, altogether too many label themselves in a way that "sounds good" according to some posturing rather than their actual personal preferences. This disconnect is compounded by the fact that very few are actually aware of the specific stances their 'heroes' take on various issues. Folks might look at Kucinich and think "liberal weenie" but actually agree (unknowingly) with his positions on nearly every issue. Even further, the "wedge issues" are often employed in ways to get folks to drag the Trojan Horse into their back yard. Folks jettison their conscious self-interest in favor of some superficial social militancy. Kripes! I don't know how many times I've heard people say they like Bush because of his character! Delusional.

[lvx35]

12. It goes both ways, some liberals are wrong too.

I've taken some tests, and discovered that I was more libertarian than liberal. For instance, if a private venue wants to allow smoking, government should screw off. (dem cause) I side with the conservatives on SCOTUS ruling government can take away private property, (and give it to corporations) that's wrong. And I don't think giving Bush all the guns is such a hot idea at this point either.

But I have to side with the dems and be active for them because Bush is so wacky. As far as small goverment and less spending, Bush is 100 times the "liberal" that Clinton was.

[nwprogressive]

5. not surprising...

I've had many conservative friends take those quizzes...and they discovered they weren't as conservative as they thought.

[hfojvt]

6. I scored something like -7.-3

and many people on this board sometimes find me disgustingly conservative. Compared to you, he is still conservative.

Maybe I should take it again and answer it the way I think Rush Limbaugh or William F. Buckley would answer. Would it still say "I" am a lefty? Or is it even going to read Joe Lieberman as a lefty?

[JanMichael]

7. Well they've got Bush where one would expect.

As far as Lieberman is concerned who knows, go for it:-)

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. They did the primary candidates back in 2004

here's a saved copy:

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com.nyud.net:8090/politicalcompass/images/USPrimaries031002.gif

So, they actually reckoned Edwards was slightly more to the right/authoritarian than Lieberman. The answers, of course, came from what the people running the site thought they would say, not from the people (or their campagins) themselves.

[BohemianJordy]

8. -8.25 -8.5

I took this awhile ago and thats what I got...Yea communism!

I'd love to see what some people in my area would get, would be an interesting test to try doing in a government class or something.

[mconvente]

9. here's what I got

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -5.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.15

Right near Ghandi.

[American in Asia]

10. Here's mine...

Economic Left/Right: -5.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.90


Interesting stuff. Now I'm dying to know how my conservative family members would score!