Economic Left/Right: -2.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.10

Economic Left/Right: -2.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.10

Political Compass

Economic Left/Right:: 2.24

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.10

Political Compass

Economic Left/Right:: 2.24

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.10

Economic Left/Right: -6.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.18

Economic Left/Right: -6.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.18

For one thing, many of the questions asked have nothing to do whatsoever with politics. Whether I think abstract art is meaningful or not has nothing to do with my political leanings. Believing that most abstract art is meaningless does not indicate that someone has socially conservative leanings (as The Political Compass would imply), not does believing that most abstract art is meaningful indicate that someone has socially liberal leanings (as The Political Compass would imply).

Also, questions regarding the motives and appropriate aims of businesses and corporations are also not fundamentally political in nature. I might believe many corporations to be greedy and feel that they have a personal responsibility toward society as a whole (a supposedly economically liberal position), but that does not necessarily indicate that I feel that government should have the responsibility to regulate such practices (with opposition to governemnt regulation being a economically conservative position).

Since none of these questions offers a “none of the above” or “unsure” option, the test taker is given no opportunity to abstain from questions which are politically ambiguous (at best) or having nothing to do with ones political beliefs (at worst).

Secondly (and this is an admittedly minor objection compared to the first), the whole layout of the Compass itself is all wrong. Instead of assigning the terms “authoritarian” and “libertarian” their traditional meanings (with “authoritarian” meaning favoring broadly increased government power and “libertarian” meaning favoring broadly decreased government power) the creators of this test apply the terms “authoritarian” and “libertarian” solely to the social freedom axis. The result is the distorted labels that test takers derive from this test. People in the left lower quandrant will call themselves “Left Libertarians”, despite the fact that a good number of these people have views that are economically authoritarian. Similarly, people in the right upper quandrant will call themselves “Right Authoritarians”, despite the fact that a good number of these people have views that are economically libertarian. And finally, Authoritarians in the upper left quadrant and Libertarians in the lower right quandrant are labeled as on the “left” and “right” respectively. Such logic would erroneously lead us to conclude that Adolf Hitler was “left-wing” while Tommy Chong would be “right-wing.”

Personally, I'd recommend the political test at http://www.quiz2d.com. It's politically biased to some extent (as are just about any political test you'd take), but the chart makes more intuitive sense in its layout, the questions are more politically relevant and allow for middle-of-the-road type answers, and the test allows you to gauge how important each political topic is to you so that your answers can be weighted accordingly.

Political Compass results:
Economic left/right: 0.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.05
Political label: (left-leaning) Right Libertarian

Political Quiz in 2D results:
Economic axis: ~65%
Social axis: ~95%
Political label: Left-Leaning Freedom Lover

For one thing, many of the questions asked have nothing to do whatsoever with politics. Whether I think abstract art is meaningful or not has nothing to do with my political leanings. Believing that most abstract art is meaningless does not indicate that someone has socially conservative leanings (as The Political Compass would imply), not does believing that most abstract art is meaningful indicate that someone has socially liberal leanings (as The Political Compass would imply).

Also, questions regarding the motives and appropriate aims of businesses and corporations are also not fundamentally political in nature. I might believe many corporations to be greedy and feel that they have a personal responsibility toward society as a whole (a supposedly economically liberal position), but that does not necessarily indicate that I feel that government should have the responsibility to regulate such practices (with opposition to governemnt regulation being a economically conservative position).

Since none of these questions offers a “none of the above” or “unsure” option, the test taker is given no opportunity to abstain from questions which are politically ambiguous (at best) or having nothing to do with ones political beliefs (at worst).

Secondly (and this is an admittedly minor objection compared to the first), the whole layout of the Compass itself is all wrong. Instead of assigning the terms “authoritarian” and “libertarian” their traditional meanings (with “authoritarian” meaning favoring broadly increased government power and “libertarian” meaning favoring broadly decreased government power) the creators of this test apply the terms “authoritarian” and “libertarian” solely to the social freedom axis. The result is the distorted labels that test takers derive from this test. People in the left lower quandrant will call themselves “Left Libertarians”, despite the fact that a good number of these people have views that are economically authoritarian. Similarly, people in the right upper quandrant will call themselves “Right Authoritarians”, despite the fact that a good number of these people have views that are economically libertarian. And finally, Authoritarians in the upper left quadrant and Libertarians in the lower right quandrant are labeled as on the “left” and “right” respectively. Such logic would erroneously lead us to conclude that Adolf Hitler was “left-wing” while Tommy Chong would be “right-wing.”

Personally, I'd recommend the political test at http://www.quiz2d.com. It's politically biased to some extent (as are just about any political test you'd take), but the chart makes more intuitive sense in its layout, the questions are more politically relevant and allow for middle-of-the-road type answers, and the test allows you to gauge how important each political topic is to you so that your answers can be weighted accordingly.

Political Compass results:
Economic left/right: 0.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.05
Political label: (left-leaning) Right Libertarian

Political Quiz in 2D results:
Economic axis: ~65%
Social axis: ~95%
Political label: Left-Leaning Freedom Lover