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Thu, Jan. 3rd, 2008, 01:17 pm
VoteMatch '08

Do you know whether John Edwards wants to extend the Patriot Act or not? Who do you think wants to use nuclear plants to be energy-independent, Edwards or Clinton? Who is the only Republican candidate who would resume diplomatic talks with Iran? The fact is, apart from the major party-line differences and the "gooey feely" impression of candidates (Obama unexperienced, Guiliani creepy), the general public doesn't really know much on where all the candidates stand on the issues.

At election time in the Netherlands, we've had a non-partisan organization create a "votematch" (stemwijzer) system. You answer agree or disagree on 25 statements, and the system will tell you how well you align with the various candidates. In the Dutch general elections, with its 15-odd parties, such tool is invaluable for the public.

The same organization now put all the US Presidential candidates in the same system, and you can now answer 25 statements yourself, see who you align with.

English version | Nederlandse versie

Caveat: Only 3 Dems and no Ron Paul.
 Leave a comment

Thu, Jan. 3rd, 2008 07:55 pm (UTC)
[info]nugget

Question 23 is badly formed: "The Patriot Act serves to fight terrorism. Extra measures should be taken further protect citizens’ privacy."

I disagree with the first half and agree with the second half.

Barring that, it says I should be voting for Obama.
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Thu, Jan. 3rd, 2008 08:01 pm (UTC)
[info]ivo

Reading the explanation and choice of answers for the various candidates, I think that a better phrasing could be:

"The Patriot Act was meant to fight terrorism, but it seems to also be eroding citizen's privacy, so we have to limit the Act in order to protect citizen's privacy"
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Thu, Jan. 3rd, 2008 08:19 pm (UTC)
[info]reanimated

yeah, that confused me. i ended up voting disagree when i probably meant agree, since edwards said agree. XD

i barely got matched with edwards...most likely because they had so many "i don't know"s for obama. so i'm still torn. damn them.
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Thu, Jan. 3rd, 2008 08:24 pm (UTC)
[info]ivo

Fortunately, you like in Texas so you opinion on either the candidate selection and the election itself are worthless anyway!
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Thu, Jan. 3rd, 2008 08:33 pm (UTC)
[info]reanimated

quiet, you. -_-
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Fri, Jan. 4th, 2008 06:58 am (UTC)
[info]goulo

I was just going to say the same thing. "The Patriot Act serves to fight terrorism. Extra measures should be taken further protect citizens’ privacy." is really terrible confusing phrasing which I also misunderstood. It amazes me that nobody involved in the creation of the quiz (which clearly had a lot of work put into it) noticed such problems.

Also annoying that it excludes various candidates like Paul and Kucinich.
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Thu, Jan. 3rd, 2008 10:04 pm (UTC)
[info]dannybrain

Did it...for fun ;o)
As a French, I answered "I do not know" whenever topics were related to US residents only (such as taxes and so forth).
Result : I am definitely NOT republican ;o) All 3 Democrates comes first...and it seems that I agree more with John Edwards positions.
I guess such a tool should have been existed for the French elections, last Spring ;)
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Mon, Jan. 7th, 2008 08:29 pm (UTC)
[info]paradox0220

Ugh, it rated Clinton highest with me. I took another poll and she was towards the middle. So much for polls!
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