Test your political inclinations (in beta testing)
Results for Stilgherrian …
Party preference | Political outlook | Economic policy
Social policy | Traditional values | Explanation
Party preference
| Greens | Australian Democrats | Labor Party | Family First | Liberal Party | National Party | One Nation |
| 80.8% | 85.9% | 70.7% | 37% | 41.7% | 35.5% | 21.9% |
This test gives an indication of the parties that align with your views. Parties with higher scores have a policy outlook that is more aligned with your views.
Because your highest score is in excess of 80% it suggests a substantial level of agreement between your views and the position of that party.
Identifying the party that best aligns with your views is not an exact science. You have more than one party within an error margin of 10 percentage points of the highest score. The higher scored parties are highlighted above. Any of these parties may actually better align with your views than the highest scored party. Or, your political preferences may swing between these higher scored parties.
Notes: People choose to vote for a political party for many reasons, not just because their ideas and ideals align with those of their chosen party. In addition to a party’s philosophical position, many voters are also interested in the experience of the candidates, and the party’s leadership style and management capability. This tool did not test such factors.
Some political parties may have policy outlooks to which your are fundamentally opposed. Even if you agree with that party on other matters you would never vote for them because of your points of disagreement. This test cannot detect those parties for which you would never vote. Because it simply ‘averages’ your areas of agreement and disagreement, the test will give a score that is higher than you may like for those parties. If you have already made up your mind to never vote for a particular party, ignore its score from this test.
Political outlook
Your broad political orientation score is -43.1%, which equates to a ‘Left’ position
Economic policy
Your economic policy score score is -6.3%. This equates to a ‘Centre’ position
Social policy
Your social policy score is -42.8%. This equates to a ‘Centre Left’ position
Traditional values
Your traditional values score is -97.1%. This equates to a ‘Far Left’ position
Explanation
In terms of the left-right political spectrum, your broad political outlook score reports the extent to which your views could be described as ‘left-wing’ or ‘right-wing’ in the contemporary Australian context. These are largely arbitrary terms:
- Left-wing positions are associated with a more managed economy, multiculturalism, Aboriginal reconciliation, a strong focus on rights and state interventions to achieve just outcomes, and bigger government (higher taxing/higher spending). A negative score above equates to a ‘left-wing’ perspective.
- Right-wing positions are associated with ‘free-market’ economics, conservative moral values, a strong focus on individual freedom and choice, a balancing of rights and responsibilities, and a focus on fair procedures (equal opportunity). A positive score above equates to a ‘right-wing’ perspective.
Of course, it is entirely possible to have conflicting left and right views on economic policy and social policy. The final three charts tease out your views in terms of the state intervening in economic issues, social policy and traditional values. Traditional values and other social policy interventions have been separated as there are a number of people who, because of their faith or atheism, hold left-of-centre views on one dimension and right-of-centre views on the other.
Your economic policy score reports the extent to which you think the state should be regulating the economic aspects of our lives. A negative score means you believe the state should, on more issues than not, intervene in the economic lives of its citizens. A positive score means you believe the state should be less interventionist.
Your social policy score reports the extent to which you think the state should be providing services for its citizens and protecting its citizens from making decisions that could be harmful (in social policy areas other than those covered by the traditional values score). A negative score means you believe the state should, on more issues than not, intervene in the social lives of its citizens as a force for good. A positive score means you believe we are responsible enough to provide for ourselves and run our own lives free from excessive government intervention.
Your traditional values score reports the extent to which you think the state should act to maintain conservative moral standards (for example in respect of abortion, divorce and drug use). A negative score means you believe the state should not overly intervene in the moral lives of its citizens. A positive score indicates you believe the state should intervene on more of these issues than not. A strongly positive score is consistent with the position adopted by the ‘Christian Right’ in Australia.
The traditional values dimension reverses the relationship between the political spectrum and state intervention. In the economic and social dimensions, being left wing typically equates with higher levels of state intervention. When it comes to traditional values, higher levels of state intervention are associated with right-wing politics.
Caveats
This page was designed for fun. If you are unhappy with the results, do not worry about it too much. The instrument has not been validated scientifically and the results could be misleading.
Do not use this test to decide how to vote at an election.