Thursday, March 12, 2009

How "progressive" (or not) are you? Take the test and find out just where you stand.

(Hat tip: PoliGazette)

Ever wonder how "progressive" (why don't they say liberal?) you are, compared to your friends and neighbors? Or how conservative, if that turns you on? Or maybe you wonder, what the hell is that "center" you hear people talking about?

Well, wonder no more. The Center for American Progress, a liberal, er, progressive outfit founded and run by John Podesta, who was Bill Clinton's chief of staff and presided over President-elect Obama's transition team, has concocted a quiz that will tell you with mathematical precision (out to a decimal point, no less) whether you're a lunatic lefty, an angry reactionary, or just a mushy, middle-of-the-road moderate like me.

The whole thing will take three minutes, tops. The quiz presents you with a series of statements and asks you how much you agree or disagree with each on a scale of zero to 10. Ten isn't always the most "progressive" answer. It may be the least. It depends on the question.

So go for it. Click here to take the quiz.

I scored 204.4, which the Center says makes me "progressive." I'm not quite sure how they figured that. The mean score for all Americans is 209.5 and for all men, it's 204.3, almost exactly mine. The highest score is 247.1, garnered by "Liberal Democrats", and the lowest 160.6, attributed to "Conservative Republicans." Curiously, "moderates" averaged 217.4 and "independents" 212.7, both significantly more "progressive" than my score.

I'd interpret my score of 204.4 differently. In a spread from 160 to 247, it is almost exactly in the center after all, which would seem to make me a "centrist," not a "progressive." In Podesta-land, though, the labels mean different things, so don't let that bother you. I'm a proud progressive. Are you?

C'mon. Take the quiz and post a comment on where you stand.

3 comments:

  1. I got a 224. Cripes I never imagined myself that progressive. I'm as progressive as African Americans and more progress than internet bloggers! NOOOOO!!!

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  2. Me too. I got 218. I think it's rigged so everyone is a "progressive."

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  3. I've taken a fair number of poli spectrum quizzes on the net. I'm nerdy like that. I fall anywhere from center left to center right. When I take a test that falls outside of that range I'm dubious.

    Still, it is only a test. It can't gauge things perfectly

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