truth in politics
Triggered by Ken Parish, I did the political orientation test at the oz politics blog.
It is a hoot. According to this I am not a centrist, as I insist I am, but a horrid far leftist. And my rusted-on support of the ALP is a snare and delusion, for I should be cavorting with the Greens.
The results are interesting and chilling. As far as I can see, only 19% of the ALP voters actually belong with the party; as opposed to 31% of the Libs, 61% of the Greens and 66% of One Nation. Of the ALP voters, 35% belong with the Dems and 29% with the Greens. Of the Family First voters, 29% should vote One Nation.
Of the preferred party of respondents, 69% come from the ALP or further left; of the political inclinations, 55% are on the left, and a further 22% in the centre. Which leaves only 23% to self identify as part of the Right.
Of the self-reported Libs, the test outcomes suggest that only 32% are voting for the party that best represents. 30% should be with One Nation, 10% with Family First.. For the Nats it is even worse. A mere 13% of them should vote for the Nats; both the Libs and the ALP should claim 11% of them, while 47% should line up with One Nation.
Of course this is only a bit of fun, and the nation is either busting for a lurch to the left, or the sample is very biased. Sadly, I think the latter is more likely.
Amongst the politically curious, it seems that a huge number of us are not voting our own inclinations. I know I don’t – there are many other factors involved like respect for the candidate, a general sense that the party is experienced, a needed for rounded policies, some faith in the judgement of the party.. etc,. etc.
I wonder what would happen if this was done on a large scale?
January 24th, 2007 at 1:08 am
David, I got exactly the same result — much Lefter than I would have expected (except on economics), and a clear indication that my beliefs align me with the Greens, for whom I have never voted in my life (and frankly the more I see of some of them, the less likely I am to start). I agree that that stats breakdown is bizarre.
I vote in the full, sad knowledge that my party of choice is very far from being representative of my views. I vote for them because they are the only party I would touch that has any chance at all of getting into power.
January 24th, 2007 at 8:07 am
the centre left is the new middle
January 24th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I also found myself to be ‘far left’ and very closely aligned with the Greens. I wasn’t particularly surprised though. Last time I really thought about this whole political alignment issue I decided to abandon the ALP and join the Greens.
My mother tells me that she has been thinking about such a switch for a very long time but just cannot bring herself to give up on the ALP. Perhaps there is a generational element to this?
January 24th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Well, I thought I was Green but turns out I’m a Democrat. I blame Bartlett – it’s his bad influence on the internet has corrupted me. Sorry, Bob.
January 24th, 2007 at 11:07 am
[...] The response from around the blogosphere so far: Barista notes that the test indicates most people are actually on the left end of the political spectrum. [...]
January 24th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Hmm. As with others, I turn out to be aligned with the Greens and centre-left in all categories. What is this bias towards the Greens?
I tried again, putting in the most right wing answers I could and I seem to be aligned to the Nats! Fun.
January 24th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
wbb – ha sprung!
January 24th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
It could also be the case that most people vote for a candidate with a fighting chance of winning. E.g. if you’re a Democrat supported but the local Federal Labor candidate is polling at 49%, who are you better off voting for?
It would be interesting to run the same poll somewhere with a proportional representation system.
January 24th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
1 Dem
2 ALP
January 24th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
The problem with these sort of things is the “strongly agree/disagree” notion. A statement is either true or it isn’t, and if it isn’t it’s false. That’s it. Even if I was to agree that there are shades to how people view these binary differences, measuring them probably doesn’t determine a person’s politics as much as the extent to which they’re wracked with self-doubt, or are indifferent to the methodology of the test. Marketing is full of this weird idea. Seriously, people, it’s either true or it isn’t – “strongly” agree? What the hell are you talking about?
So, anyway, this would be why I, self-described ultra-leftist, tested out as centre-left. I hope. Still, it said I should vote Green, so near enough’s good enough.
Oh, and FWIW, “People who enter Australia illegally and who claim to be a refugee… ” is a self-contradicting premise.
January 24th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
A statement is either true or it isn’t, and if it isn’t it’s false. That’s it.
I’m not sure if I’d agree with that, Rob.
January 24th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Like most here, found myself cast far greener than i ever would have imagined.
And I even thought I would outsmart the Q & A to place me where I perceived myself – beaten by a ‘puter before commencing work! Would love to have read:
“The ABC deserves more money to complete the task of tilting Australia into a socialist gulag – strongly agree, agree etc etc.”
The thought of certain heads exploding was a nice one to go with coffee this morning.
January 24th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
did what? The quiz on a blog?? Let’s face it, very, very few people gove any consideration to why they vote the way they do. They just vote as they always have. Completing a quiz on a blog isn’t likely to have any impact on any individual’s votong pattern. Bannerman is quite surprised that Parish should even moot the idea.
January 24th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
I was labelled Green too. I would never vote for them because I see them as far too dogmatic and inflexible to be useful parliamentarians. I assume classifications like this work from stated policies rather than actual performance. This is as bad as voting on the basis of the election campaigns.
January 24th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Anonymous Lefty posted about this too. I polled Democrat, Greens and then Labor. The politcal compass is in a similar vein:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/composers
January 25th, 2007 at 1:02 am
Oh. Well I scored 24% over at the quiz on Geoffrey Chaucer’s blog:
http://houseoffame.blogspot.com/
January 25th, 2007 at 3:47 am
“I wonder what would happen if this was done on a large scale?”
Mass Opinionation?
January 25th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Labor, then closely followed by Dems & Greens……and I am an ALP voter. Centre Left results across the board, which seems to place me in the “new middle”
January 25th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Christine Keeler – Thou beest yclept a bludig genius.
I thought I knew some of this stuffe…. ha.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
I tried it, but the DSL line went haywire, and couldn’t complete it. Dunno wot that sez about censorship .. heh.
January 30th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
I was centre left I’m happy to say. Sane rational small L liberalism, that’s me. Well they reckon I should be a democrat in fact, something that didn’t surprise me.
The test may be skewed though. Centre left may be the new middle.. in Finland! Unfortunately here I’m confident, in the wider community, the median line is sitting over the right hand side. Much as I dislike that.
February 1st, 2007 at 4:50 am
RobW: “Seriously, people, it’s either true or it isn’t – “strongly” agree? What the hell are you talking about? What the hell are you talking about?”
Some of us are honest enough to say that we really don’t know whether such a thing is right/wrong, a good idea or a bad one, and so are simply “undecided, but inclined” one way or the other. Agree or disagree for when we’re more sure, and “strongly” for when we’re dead certain. Which is not all the time!