Feb 04 2008
Big Chunk Tuesday, Choosing the Presidential Candidate Who Best Serves Your Interests
I thought I’d try to trump the media-labeled primary/caucus event “Super Tuesday” with my own hokey catch-phrase, “Big Chunk Tuesday.” Why not, since such a large number of delegates for both the Republican and Democratic Presidential nominees are at stake? Mmm…stake…makes me hungry for democracy.
If you are one of those voters in one of those states participating in Tuesday’s smorgasbord of Presidential primaries and caucuses (check out the New York Times’s Republican primary calendar and Democratic primary calendar) and are still unsure which way to go, there is a nifty non-partisan, nonprofit site called Glassbooth.org that offers a brief questionnaire-process that will align you with candidates who most closely reflect your own views on issues such as education, health care, foreign policy, immigration, taxes, etc.
The first part of this “quiz” asks you to score according to your personal preference on certain campaign issues through an allotment of twenty points. After you have distributed your twenty points among the issues that matter most to you, you will be taken to a second page that lists specific policy stances based on your issues of interest. On that second page, you can rate on a five-point scale between “Strongly Oppose” and “Strongly Support” on those specific policy stances.
After you have provided your responses, the site will then provide a list of candidates who most closely align with you on your issues, ranking them according to a percentile match-up with your own views. It will even explain why you match up by linking you to a given candidate’s record, which are based on information from the candidate’s political history and quoted statements.
Of course, I’m not proposing this serve as the last-stop resource to determine for whom you should vote; individual voters should certainly follow up with further personal research on the various candidates (although there won’t be much time alas for this week’s primaries and caucuses). For one thing, this site can’t determine whether or not a given candidate will actually follow through on his or her stated positions or that past performances will ensure a similar future path (point me to the genius Web site that could). That will require, just as it does for each and every voting citizen, from average Joe to pontificating pundit, what amounts to a heady concoction of informed-but-ultimately-unscientific divinations and a leap of faith.
What Glassbooth.org does provide is a great starting point if you are unfamiliar with the candidates in the field, and perhaps for those of you who may be wringing your hands right up until your moment in the voting booth, a source of affirmation or vindication for your final choice.
Obviously, this site would also come in handy for the general Presidential election as well. As for the Presidential candidate who most matched up to my own views upon my first run-through, let’s just say that for those readers that have read my last few postings, it seems I’ve found an alignment that wouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
7 Comments to “Big Chunk Tuesday, Choosing the Presidential Candidate Who Best Serves Your Interests”
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I took the survey, and strange enough, came out as most matched to Mike Gravel…well, he doesn’t take money from lobbyists, big business or the like, which might explain why he’s so unknown and doesn’t have a shot at all. He also supports Kucinich– I had no idea I was that far left…I also found some disappointing things about Barack from various speeches that he’s hinted at private pay instead of true universal health care; he “spiritually” believes marriage is only between a man and woman so civil unions for gays are a better idea; he’s supports ethanol which isn’t as great as everyone thinks; but he is very committed to education and civil rights so at least he’s not a complete disappointment like another candidate who I won’t name….
That said, I highly recommend taking this quiz!
And as for the Republicans, don’t you think Mitt Romney looks like one of those actors paid to play a doctor on infomercials for various pharmaceuticals? Hmmmm….
I think its a great idea to have a website that helps you in making your decision making in this presidential election because its such a hard decision to make well for me it was really hard because it would be great to have a first black man but also having the first women president has been something I just dreamed about since I was a little girl.
This is an interesting website, however i would hope by now everyone knows all the candidates and what they stand for. I do prefer to keep my opinions about the candidates to myself. However, I do think this is a very good website to go to if you would like to find out more about the candidates. I learned a lot myself.
I think this website is a great tool for getting people interested in the election process. It clearly breaks down what the candidates stand for; consequently, this allows the viewers to discover which candidate would better represent their voice. It is simple and informative; thus, promoting many people to participate in our government. Without citizen support or concern, our government does not achieve its’ full potential.
I think it is a good idea to have a quiz helping people decide who they would want to vote for. Yes it is true that by now people should already know who they are leaning towards to vote for but an extra guide will not hurt anyone.
I agree with what it says in the article, yes people can take the quiz to help them decide who to vote for but they should also research the candidate before making any final decision.
This is an interesting article. I feel it’s a good way to get teenagers involved in politics. Most teens don’t know much when it comes to voting, including my self, and the quiz seems like a good way to get an understanding of which candidate is best suits you. I have not taken the survey, I’m still trying to find it, but I have shared this with two of my close friends who are not even registered to vote.
I think this website is very helpful to people who don’t really have an idea about each canadite, or what each party stands for. I personaly don’t know yet who I would rather have president. I think either a black president or a women president would be an interesting twist.