[Doug64]

Going through the polls here, I came across a poll for which was best, The Political Compass or the Nolan Chart Survey. While the PC was better than the new NCS (the link to the old NCS is broken), I found them both horrible - my score for the PC was Economic Left/Right: 2.50, Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.92; and the NCS put me as a Centrist just short of either Libertarian and Conservative. Neither fit my political views accurately, the PC because it mixed in views on morality unmodified by how those views should be worked out in law, and the NCS's questions were just plain strange.

So, just for fun and since I didn't see a poll for it already listed (though I'm sure it's in there somewhere), here's the online poll that I think does the best job of measuring general political philosophy, though of course it doesn't measure the idiosyncrasies and fine divisions of each: The World's Smallest Political Quiz

Below are the descriptions of the five political ideologies. Which best describes you, and does the poll place you more or less where you should be, at least in the correct extra-large pigeonhole? Note that the poll asks which description below best describes you, not what result you got on the quiz.

My own score was Libertarian: Personal 80 / Economic 90, which IMHO is about right.

Libertarian
Libertarians support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.

Left (Liberal)
Liberals usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net" to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.

Centrist
Centrist espouse a "middle ground" regarding government control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what they describe as "practical" solutions to problems.

Right (Conservative)
Conservatives tend to favor economic freedom, but frequently support laws to restrict personal behavior that violates "traditional values." They oppose excessive government control of business, while endorsing government action to defend morality and the traditional family structure. Conservatives usually support a strong military, oppose bureaucracy and high taxes, favor a free-market economy, and endorse strong law enforcement.

Statists (Big Government)
Statists want government to have a great deal of power over the economy and individual behavior. They frequently doubt whether economic liberty and individual freedom are practical options in today's world. Statists tend to distrust the free market, support high taxes and centralized planning of the economy, oppose diverse lifestyles, and question the importance of civil liberties.

[Jackal]

Statist (Big government).

Personal: 10%
Economic: 20%


I am not very impressed with this quiz. Also, you need an "Other" option, per forum rules.

[Beren]

Left (Liberal)

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 90%
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 40%

[Melodramatic]

Libertarian. 100% on both (of course were talking about an ideal here). Exactly what we need an even smaller and less accurate test.

[W01f]

This quiz is absolute garbage.

[Donna]

I'm not going near this thing.

[Captain Sam]

This quiz is absolute garbage.

It is. It's a crappy reference to US politics on how liberal or conservative are you.

[Doug64]

Libertarian. 100% on both (of course were talking about an ideal here). Exactly what we need an even smaller and less accurate test.

It certainly does a better job for my political views than the other two I mentioned. Just how closely did your results come to your own views?

And you say "small" like that's a bad thing!

It is. It's a crappy reference to US politics on how liberal or conservative are you.

Three-dimensional, not two. Do you know of any online political polls for non-US politics? I don't but would definitely be interested.

[Quantum]

Statist (Big government).

Personal: 10%
Economic: 20%

I usually score at the statist square but closer to liberalism sometimes and according to this test we're Nazis or Stalinists. This quiz is so biased towards libertarianism it gives those who aren't libertarians a high score.

For example: "Government should not censor speech, press, media, or internet."

The questions are framed in a way to elicit an 'agree' response and this makes them more libertarian, not to mention that 10 questions doesn't gauge a person's political persuasion.

[Le Rouge]

Three-dimensional, not two. Do you know of any online political polls for non-US politics? I don't but would definitely be interested.

The forum has developed its own. It's much more multi-dimensional and the questions asked aren't based specifically on the US political system. The official link is broken but someone else might know how to access it.

[W01f]

The old POFO quiz is gone for good. A few members are working on a new and improved one but I don't think it's done yet, and I have no idea when it will be. You'll have to ask Demos or Zag about it.

[Jackal]

The old POFO quiz is gone for good. A few members are working on a new and improved one but I don't think it's done yet, and I have no idea when it will be. You'll have to ask Demos or Zag about it.

Why is it gone for good?

[hannigaholic]

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 80%
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 50%

I'm right at the border of Liberal, Libertarian, and Centrist; I picked Centrist in the poll, because it most closely reflects how I see myself out of those three choices.

[Melodramatic]

It certainly does a better job for my political views than the other two I mentioned.

Don't be so sure, the questions are practically built to make you want to say libertarianism. Not a totally bad thing, as democracy is built upon ignorance, but such definitions let conservatives call themselves libertarians.

[Groih]

I got liberal, but I am generally the anti thesis of one. Stupid quiz.

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 90%

Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 20%

[Doomhammer]

I came out as a libertarian.

I'm not a libertarian.

[W01f]

Why is it gone for good?

I don't know the details but basically the person who created the quiz retained rights to it or whatever, and he stopped coming here and took it down for some reason.

[Wolfman]

This poll needs an other option. And the options presented are far too limited. And the person who came out with the quiz has this apply to them

[youtube]5hfYJsQAhl0[/youtube]

[Doug64]

I usually score at the statist square but closer to liberalism sometimes and according to this test we're Nazis or Stalinists.

No, more like blue-collar Democrats.

This quiz is so biased towards libertarianism it gives those who aren't libertarians a high score.

The one time that I know of that this quiz was used for a telephone survey by a professional polling organization, Portrait of America back in 2000, they found 16% came out Libertarian. That's about where the professional pollsters that bother to measure using the 3D political spectrum come out, though it varies a bit - I've seen everything from 9% to 22%. Along with the 14% Authoritarians, they tend to be a good-sized part of the swing voters, depending on which aspect is currently more important politically.

I'm right at the border of Liberal, Libertarian, and Centrist; I picked Centrist in the poll, because it most closely reflects how I see myself out of those three choices.

Good, that's what I asked for - where you saw yourself, rather than where the quiz put you. And IIRC, isn't that which option the quiz would have put you in?

I got liberal, but I am generally the anti thesis of one. Stupid quiz.

How so? Which standard liberal positions are you the antithesis of?

I came out as a libertarian.

I'm not a libertarian.

Ditto my question to Groih, which libertarian positions do you disagree with that would invalidate the poll? (And I hope you didn't vote Libertarian.)

[Doug64]

One comment I missed:

Don't be so sure, the questions are practically built to make you want to say libertarianism. Not a totally bad thing, as democracy is built upon ignorance, but such definitions let conservatives call themselves libertarians.

Oh, I knew I was a libertarian years before I came across the quiz - Heinlein got to me. I've actually moderated a bit over the years.

And if some people that usually label themselves as Conservatives come out on the test as Libertarians, maybe they really are and simply labeled themselves as Conservatives because of the more usual Left/Right political spectrum.