ISideWith.com

An article on the NPR website refers to a website called ISideWith.com in which people can take a poll (they call it a quiz) regarding their views on a multitude of issues in the upcoming US election. The site then tabulates your results and tells you which candidate most closely mirrors your personal views. The "quiz" asks you about social, environmental, economic, domestic policy, health care, foreign policy, immigration and science issues. What I like about it is that it begins with basic options, but also allows you to have the option of more nuanced answers (if you select the option "choose another stance"). It also allows you weigh each issue in respect of its personal importance for you.



I took the quiz and it concluded that I was closest in opinion to one of the third party candidates (they're all included). I'm closer to Mitt Romney on fiscal issues and closer to Barack Obama on social and health care issues. I think I'll retake it though because at the beginning I was lazy and didn't select the "choose another stance" option.

I'm always skeptical about these things because you never know who created the quiz and whether or not that person was able to ignore his or her personal biases. Having said that, if you approach it as harmless fun and don't get upset about anything, it can be entertaining.

The full NPR article about the webpage can be found here.