CBC's Vote Compass

[betsy]

Anyone tried the vote compass launched by CBC? Complicated? How accurate?

Please give feedback about it.

[Wild Bill]

Anyone tried the vote compass launched by CBC? Complicated? How accurate?

Please give feedback about it.

I did it and it labelled me a Conservative. That's understandable, I suppose, since it appears to use modern definitions of the parties as they act today.

The questions did seem a bit simplistic.

[Saipan]

CBC's Vote Compass:

For people who don't know whether they are coming or going.

[Shakeyhands]

It placed me a lot further left than I am. Part of the problem is the questions are "yeah, but..." types that require more answer to qualify.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Shakeyhands

[Michael Hardner]

I found the questions to be loaded and the conservative questions appeared to be based on general attitudes towards right-of-centre thinking not any specific policies that are currently on the table.

That's just misleading, IMO.

Then at the end, they ask you to rank the leaders and so on. If you have enough information to do so, why would you use a tool like this ?

I ranked Layton 10/10 and the others 0/10 across the board to see what would happen and it said I was a Liberal.

[William Ashley]

Anyone tried the vote compass launched by CBC? Complicated? How accurate?

Please give feedback about it.

It is fairly accurate - it doesn't give quite as much room for non standard program thought though. IMO.

It explains how it is determined in the position per statement catagory.

I would expect myself to be more socially liberal than it ranked me, and more economic to the right, it had me only slightly right of centre on economy and only slightly north of centre on social

After fine tuning on "my two most important issues" it had me dead center on economy and only a blip north on social.

Also it is farily accurate on picks for PM

Gilles Duceppe (3) came in 1st followed by Jack Layton (1.7) and Ignateiff (0.7) , then May (0.3) then Harper (0). (I would probably vote for May before Ignateiff though just because I have some inate distrust of the man I can't quite identify, but I'd vote for him before Harper) -

Edited April 2, 2011 by William Ashley

[msj]

I found it to be fun although a bit annoying.

I presume that people who put in their information about their riding will be tracked in a database to see how well the results correlate to the election day results?

I would not be surprised if they use the information to massage their polling data and then improve it once the election day results are in thereby making the next election/Vote Compass even more interesting.

[Keepitsimple]

Indeed - it is fun....and a little maddening. I answered all questions with "neither agree or disagree" exccept for the following questions - which I would think would align with Conservative thinking:

1) The deficit should be reduced even if it leads to a reduction in services (somewhat agree)

2) Oil Sands environment damage is exagerrated (somewhat agree)

3) Environment legislation should be stricter - even if it costs more (somewhat disagree)

4) Government should fund Daycare (somewhat disagree)

5) Immigrants should speak English or French (strongly agree)

6) Long Gun Registry scrapped (somewhat agree)

7) Quebec should be an independent state (strongly disagree)

In spite of this, I was categorized as a Liberal. I'm going to take a shower now.

OK, this is crazy....I added a few more Conservative thoughts and still came out a Liberal. That does it...I'm voting for Iggy.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Keepitsimple

[kimmy]

I found the questions to be loaded and the conservative questions appeared to be based on general attitudes towards right-of-centre thinking not any specific policies that are currently on the table.

That's just misleading, IMO.

I agree with that, as well as with some of the other comments.

I disliked some of the questions, particularly the one about abortion. "The government should make it easier for a woman to get an abortion." Agree? Disagree? Well, I thought it was already pretty easy for a woman to get an abortion. How am I supposed to answer? And which party has abortion on their election platform anyway? Seems to me like this question and some of the others aren't an attempt to assess how your views match a party platform, they're an attempt to pigeonhole the ideological beliefs of the person taking the quiz.

This thing decided I was a social conservative and an economic moderate on the little x-y chart... but still decided that I'm a Liberal. Even though I am closer to the Conservatives on the "social" axis, I am a Liberal because they put the Conservatives way off to the right on the "economic" axis... which seems odd, because the charge usually made against the Conservatives is that they're the opposite: socially conservative but economically not very conservative at all. I'm not sure if there's a combination of answers that would have actually put me out that far on the "economic" axis... I thought the answers to economic questions that I gave it were pretty right-wing already.

I'm actually baffled at how this thing decided that I'm a social conservative. I told it I was ok with marijuana, gay marriage, and abortion. I guess it decided I'm a social conservatives because I "somewhat agree" that immigrants ought to speak English or French.

-k

[YEGmann]

This is an old stuff.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=Vote+Compass+miscalibrated&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-CA:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=a1-XTZyTI4mitgfnk-WNDA

[Michael Hardner]

k,

"I disliked some of the questions, particularly the one about abortion. "The government should make it easier for a woman to get an abortion." Agree? Disagree? Well, I thought it was already pretty easy for a woman to get an abortion. How am I supposed to answer? And which party has abortion on their election platform anyway? Seems to me like this question and some of the others aren't an attempt to assess how your views match a party platform, they're an attempt to pigeonhole the ideological beliefs of the person taking the quiz."

Exactly... this question is misleading, unless it's the policy of some party to make abortion illegal.

[betsy]

I did it and it labelled me a Conservative. That's understandable, I suppose, since it appears to use modern definitions of the parties as they act today.

The questions did seem a bit simplistic.

Were they right? I heard that some folks got labelled to other parties....one was even labelled with the Parti Quebecois!

[RNG]

A friend of mine anwered all the questions as "neither agree or disagree and rated all the leaders neutrally and equally. The compass put him square on the Liberal spot. His interpretation was that the CBC is trying to influence voters to vote liberal. My tinfoil hat isn't quite that large, but the questions could have at least been phrased a bit better.

I, as a test answered everyting as wingnut righty as I could and it still put me only halfway between the Conservatives and the Liberals. I should have been right of the Conservatives with the answers I gave. So yes, I also think it is biased.

[Keepitsimple]

It would appear that the author(s) chose the questions and structured the options through a personal lens that by default put the Liberals at the center of the political spectrum - even though the current day version of the Liberals is clearly left of center. I'm sure people caught the fact that the main author of this little game was a former policy adviser to Michael Ignatieff.

[Jack Weber]

A friend of mine anwered all the questions as "neither agree or disagree and rated all the leaders neutrally and equally. The compass put him square on the Liberal spot. His interpretation was that the CBC is trying to influence voters to vote liberal. My tinfoil hat isn't quite that large, but the questions could have at least been phrased a bit better.

I, as a test answered everyting as wingnut righty as I could and it still put me only halfway between the Conservatives and the Liberals. I should have been right of the Conservatives with the answers I gave. So yes, I also think it is biased.

I took it and I ended up almost exactly where I ended up on the test that August has down in the political philosophy section..

It said I was closest to the Liberals,but in actuality...And just as I suspected...None of the party's accurately represent me.I was down in the lower left quadrant,almost dead centre on the libertarian/authoritarian axis and half way out on the left side of the economic axis...

The Conservatives,at least by that test,are are in the middle of the lower right quadrant and all the other partiy's are in varying degrees in th upper left quadrant...

[Wild Bill]

Were they right? I heard that some folks got labelled to other parties....one was even labelled with the Parti Quebecois!

Were they right? Depends on your definition, Betsy. Actually, I'm more a CLASSIC liberal, by the old dictionary definitions. Less government, more rights to the individual, laissez-faire economics. All the parties today vary widely from the dictionary definitions as they have striven to stake out their place among the different types of voters.

The modern Liberal party is little or nothing like the classic Liberal definition. If anything, the party that comes closest might be the Libertarians but what's the point of voting for them? Might as well vote for the Rhinos, or the Greens!

I think that the questions were dreamed up by someone who never read the classic definitions but rather went by the popular stereotypes believed today, especially among lefties like the CBC! In their mind, Conservatives are ALL anti-abortion, pro-church, big on guns, etc. Liberals are more caring, the NDP worries more about poor people starving than the need to defend the country and so on.

These caricatures are SO simplistic! When I was in the Reform Party we used to talk about this all the time. I never met ANYBODY who fitted the CBC definition of a Reformer! I met all kinds of rural folk who had no problem with gays and gay marriage and had very different opinions among themselves about military spending.

Here on this board I've met many friends who might be described as leftwing yet espouse the need for Canada to rebuild its military capabilities. There are different opinions on different issues all over the place!

So again, I think the CBC used leftwing caricatures for their definitions. They also suffer from the media's constant need to dumb everything down to make it simple for a sound bite or a few lines in the newspaper. When you dumb ideas down you tend to make them much less accurate.

[Jack Weber]

Were they right? Depends on your definition, Betsy. Actually, I'm more a CLASSIC liberal, by the old dictionary definitions. Less government, more rights to the individual, laissez-faire economics. All the parties today vary widely from the dictionary definitions as they have striven to stake out their place among the different types of voters.

The modern Liberal party is little or nothing like the classic Liberal definition. If anything, the party that comes closest might be the Libertarians but what's the point of voting for them? Might as well vote for the Rhinos, or the Greens!

I think that the questions were dreamed up by someone who never read the classic definitions but rather went by the popular stereotypes believed today, especially among lefties like the CBC! In their mind, Conservatives are ALL anti-abortion, pro-church, big on guns, etc. Liberals are more caring, the NDP worries more about poor people starving than the need to defend the country and so on.

These caricatures are SO simplistic! When I was in the Reform Party we used to talk about this all the time. I never met ANYBODY who fitted the CBC definition of a Reformer! I met all kinds of rural folk who had no problem with gays and gay marriage and had very different opinions among themselves about military spending.

Here on this board I've met many friends who might be described as leftwing yet espouse the need for Canada to rebuild its military capabilities. There are different opinions on different issues all over the place!

So again, I think the CBC used leftwing caricatures for their definitions. They also suffer from the media's constant need to dumb everything down to make it simple for a sound bite or a few lines in the newspaper. When you dumb ideas down you tend to make them much less accurate.

Don't worry,Billy...

Sun TV will be along shortly and have it's own "Vote Compass"...

It'll tell us that everyone really leans towards Mr. Harper's Conservative party...

Edited April 2, 2011 by Jack Weber

[Scotty]

A friend of mine anwered all the questions as "neither agree or disagree and rated all the leaders neutrally and equally. The compass put him square on the Liberal spot. His interpretation was that the CBC is trying to influence voters to vote liberal. My tinfoil hat isn't quite that large, but the questions could have at least been phrased a bit better.

Is your friend's name Kelly McParland?

I responded to all 30 policy questions by indicating no opinion whatsoever, choosing either “neither agree or disagree” or “about the same as now” on each of 30 questions. On questions about the parties and leaders, I picked the lowest score available when asked about trustworthiness, competence or suitability for the job. In other words, I indicated I have no opinions at all, and think the parties and their leaders all stink.

In conclusion, the “educational tool” reported I was closest to the Liberal Party, and furthest from the NDP.

The Big Red Tent for People With No Clue

[msj]

Were they right? I heard that some folks got labelled to other parties....one was even labelled with the Parti Quebecois!

Quelle horreur!

I suppose this person is now going to vote BQ because of this!

When you have finished the questions you can go through in detail and compare your responses to the 5 parties to see where you agree or disagree with each party on each item.

Don't worry, your results will not force you to vote for that part on May 2.

[RNG]

Serious question, is there a registered Libertarian Party any where in Canada? Given several test like this, but much more detailed and not dumbed-down on a couple of American forums I visit, I am right there in my political philosophy, but I have never seen or heard of a Libertarian Party in Canada.

[betsy]

A friend of mine anwered all the questions as "neither agree or disagree and rated all the leaders neutrally and equally. The compass put him square on the Liberal spot. His interpretation was that the CBC is trying to influence voters to vote liberal. My tinfoil hat isn't quite that large, but the questions could have at least been phrased a bit better.

I, as a test answered everyting as wingnut righty as I could and it still put me only halfway between the Conservatives and the Liberals. I should have been right of the Conservatives with the answers I gave. So yes, I also think it is biased.

Come to think of it, an anchorperson from the CBC said that answering "I don't know" to all questions gets you labelled under Liberal.

[Wild Bill]

Serious question, is there a registered Libertarian Party any where in Canada? Given several test like this, but much more detailed and not dumbed-down on a couple of American forums I visit, I am right there in my political philosophy, but I have never seen or heard of a Libertarian Party in Canada.

Right here!

http://www.libertarian.ca/

You will likely find it different than the American definition, if you go by the one that is composed of survivalists and government conspiracy fanatics.

[NSLiberal]

I thought it was good for a couple of chuckles. It had me down as Green Party. But I'm one of those weird people who likes my vote to, yunno, actually count.

I also love how Conservatives across the country are panning it because it has a "Liberal Bias" Basically, to a conservative anything that isn't Fox News has a Liberal Bias.

[Jack Weber]

I thought it was good for a couple of chuckles. It had me down as Green Party. But I'm one of those weird people who likes my vote to, yunno, actually count.

I also love how Conservatives across the country are panning it because it has a "Liberal Bias" Basically, to a conservative anything that isn't Fox News has a Liberal Bias.

You've noticed that..

That if it does'nt have the ideological conservative Seal of Approval it must be,by definition, (L)liberal....

[NSLiberal]

You've noticed that..

That if it does'nt have the ideological conservative Seal of Approval it must be,by definition, (L)liberal....

GOMERY INQUIRY! IT'S ALL THE PREVIOUS LIBERAL GOVERNMENT'S FAULT!!!

Oh, Sorry. Went into Conservative mode for a second... Man that was scary. Yet ignorantly blissful.