> Linked below is a political quiz that seems to me to be
> more accurate. I think the questions are worded better.
> Also, the quiz was created by the writters of my
> government book and is thus designed with an attempt to
> eliminate any bias and actually place people in the groups
> they belong in.
>
> --mollye"well, I thought it was interesting"mo

Yeah, it is much more sensible, at least according to the American uses of the labels. The axes aren't the best choices, but then I'm not sure what they ought to be. The "World's Smallest Political Quiz" is closer. A reason I like it is that it has a Maybe/Not Sure/Sometimes/Not Enough Information option. (Some suggest that the SWPQ is biased toward libertarian, though somewhat less than the political compass poll is toward left-lib.)

The quizzes seem to flounder on a small but significant distinction: Are the responses to questions classified as they "really ought to be," as decided by the authors, or as the public at large would perceive them? Anytime you go for the former, you'll likely end up with a very debatable poll, and some unavoidable bias. Redefining common terms is fraught with confusion.

Cases in point:

-It asked about the death penalty (#5) and abortion (#19) and school vouchers (#16) and school prayer (#17). These make sense on the left-to-right line, but not on a freedom-order scale or freedom-equality scale. It should be obvious to all by now that there are countless ways of justifying every conceivable perspective.

-[6. Do you agree or disagree with this statement: "We have gone too far in pushing equal rights in this country."

agree or mostly agree/disagree or mostly disagree]

We haven't gone NEARLY far enough, but then we didn't say what rights we're talking about. Truly equal rights would be a remarkably different beast (called "anarchy") than most people realize.

-[7. Would you favor or oppose federal legislation which would force Internet service providers to turn over email records and download logs as court evidence?

Oppose laws for using Internet records in court/Favor such legislation]

Ambiguous. Nearly everyone considers conspiracy to cover up a crime to be a crime itself, and there laws are good. But requiring the wholesale provision of customer data, as has been proposed, should probably be considered invasion of privacy. Readers could split depending on which they think of first. #11 is similar.

-[9. In terms of gun laws in the United States, which of the following would you prefer to see happen:
A: pass new gun laws in addition to enforcing the current laws more strictly, or B: enforce the current gun laws more strictly and NOT pass new gun laws]

Really now! No libertarian and not many conservatives want even the current gun laws enforced.

-[If the government had to choose between keeping down inflation or keeping down unemployment to which do you think it should give highest priority?

government should keep unemployment down/government should keep inflation down]

If you had to choose between wearing a swimsuit to go swimming or a raincoat to walk in the rain, which should you do? Again, no libertarian and not all conservatives think the government properly has anything to do with either role. Thus, which it should do if it absolutely had to is for them a random decision between socking people immediately with unemployment or socking them harder later on with inflation *and* its associated unemployment.

-[14. Do you favor or oppose allowing individuals to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in the U.S. stock market?

Favor allowing persons to invest Social Security taxes in the market/Oppose investing Social Security taxes in the stock market.]

Opinion C: Favor allowing persons to invest social security taxes in their mattress, because the ROI is still better. OK, so I'm supposed to choose A.

-In #15, support for increased regulation of violence on TV is "conservative." This is a good example of more consistent labeling that mostly just confuses people.