Can A Web Quiz Really Tell You Who To Vote For?

[millennica]

Today's NPR Talk of the Nation featured Bob Collins, who created a web quiz that asks about various issues and then matches the answers with the presidential candidate whose positions match the answers selected. The link to the page from which one can navigate to the quiz is posted below. Enjoy.

Can a Web Quiz Really Tell You Who to Vote For?

Talk of the Nation, January 17, 2008

[crunchtastic]

Talk of the Nation, January 17, 2008

[millennica]

Actually, the problem is, candidates say one thing and do another, which renders the quiz, and often your vote, meaningless.

Of course, I'll have to take it. Perhaps I will learn as much from it as I did from all those Cosmo Quizzes.

EDIT: this quiz was actually dead on, in my case. Your mileage may vary.

Cosmo Quizzes? Never saw them, never took them. Did you learn anything from them? You don't say. But based on what you say about the "candidate" quiz, it appears to have corresponded to your candidate preferences. Of course, there is a gap between what people say and what they do and this is not just with candidates. Social scientists who study this phenomena distinguish between their beliefs--what people say-- and their actions-- and what they actually do. In many cases, the discrepancies are startling. One would expect the same for political candidates.

[KinkaidAlum]

Wow. That was SPOT on for me too!

Unfortunately for me, the candidate that scored the highest for me (a 25.0) has NO chance of winning anything although I do have a bumper sticker on my car for his campaign. The 2 lesser of two evils that I will have to choose between scored the EXACT SAME (19.0)! That ain't helpful...