Which Democrat Is Closest to Your Views According to a Silly Quiz?
[guest post by JVW]
The Washington Post has a 20 question quiz up where your answers are correlated to the positions staked out by each Democrat candidate. Yes, the questions can be kind of stupid: some of them are along the lines of should the President “consider” or “not consider” a certain course of action, as if mere consideration was a substitute for implementing a course of action. And others didn’t really have a choice that fit my response, such as the question of whether college should be entirely free, mostly free, or only partially free for some people. There wasn’t an option for “the federal government has no business mucking around in college education.”
But still, it was interesting. For seven of the twenty questions my response was not reflected in the response of any of the Democrat candidates, so I feel pretty good about this. But here is the breakdown of how close my beliefs, such as they could be captured by this limited quiz, maps to the various Dem candidates:
Michael Bloomberg – 11
Joe Biden – 10
Andrew Yang – 7
Tulsi Gabbard – 5
Amy Klobuchar – 5
Tom Steyer – 5
Pete Buttigieg – 4
Bernard Sanders – 4
Elizabeth Warren – 0
Not all candidates have a position on each one of these questions; for instance, Little Aloha Sweetie has no recorded answer on five of the questions, so I’m going to go ahead and assume that we would have agreed on those questions and bump her up to a score of 10. Elizabeth Warren has answered all 20 questions, and it tickles me to no end that we do not agree on a one of them. Hell, I even agree with Comrade Bernard on four questions.
If you feel motivated to take the quiz, please feel free to tell us with which candidate you are most aligned, if you so wish.
– JVW
I don’t think poor John Delaney, Michael Bennett, and Deval Patrick are even included in this quiz. The WaPo is apparently claiming it’s because they haven’t provided a position on these questions, which I kind of find hard to believe.
JVW (54fd0b) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:01 pmI seriously am stoked that my correlation to Elizabeth Warren produced a goose egg.
JVW (54fd0b) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:01 pmSince you agree most with Bloomberg, does that mean we get to charge you with being a gun grabbing soda banning socialist?
Kishnevi (dc4324) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:07 pmI took the quiz.
Apparently I’m the gungrabbing sida banning socialist, not you
Bloomberg 15
Biden 13
Klobuchar 11
Yang 10
Steyer 10
Buttigieg 9
Gabbard 6
Sanders 4
Warren 4
I chose the “least progressive” alternative as opposed to skipping some, which may account for the difference between you and me.
Kishnevi (dc4324) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:19 pmI got a “meh” from Warren too, and got best results from Bloomberg.
steveg (354706) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:20 pmEvidently I agree with him 50% of the time, but am 100% the opposite of the other 50%.
I think if you weight my disagreements with Bloomberg from light, moderate, to unyielding he’s effectively at 2-3
Bloomberg 10
Biden 9
Gabbard 7
Steyer 7
Klobuchar 6
Sanders 6
Yang 6
Buttigieg 5
Warren 2
Nobody agreed with me on marijuana, fracking, government run health insurance, abortion, deportations, and paid family leave. Only Sanders agreed with me on student loan debt, and only Yang on nuclear power.
Biden/Bloomberg 2020!
nk (dbc370) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:29 pmWarren agreed with me on felons voting and See Petey Peepee.
nk (dbc370) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:33 pmMy results mirror yours, but I really doubt the Michael Bloomberg and I really agree on that much.
The silly quiz could really benefit by the inclusion of an ‘other’ option…
Sadly, once the electoral college has been eliminated, it will likely be replaced with a BuzzFeed poll similar to this atrocity.
Glenn (ff8126) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:34 pmMy top 4 were Bloomberg, Biden, Yang, Warren.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:47 pmBloomberg, Biden, Yang, same numbers for the others until, Sanders, then Warren
But I think we’re all saying this matches like a daily horoscope
frosty (f27e97) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:49 pmBloomberg
10
Biden
9
Yang
8
Klobuchar
6
Gabbard
6
Steyer
6
Buttigieg
5
Sanders
5
Warren
1
I agree with Warren only about legalizing marijuana. (The current situation is Prohibition 2.0).
norcal (42c8d0) — 1/15/2020 @ 8:57 pmI am close to JVW:
Bloomberg – 14
Biden – 12
Yang – 9
Buttigieg – 8
Klobuchar – 7
Steyer – 7
Gabbard – 4
Sanders – 3
Warren – 1
Not voting for Bloomberg. Often there was no acceptable answer and I chose the least objectionable.
Patterico (115b1f) — 1/15/2020 @ 9:29 pmBehind a paywall for me. so all you MSM-haters are also WaPo subscribers? Now that is interesting.
JRH (52aed3) — 1/15/2020 @ 9:39 pmTurn off your ad blocker, JRH. And while you’re at it, make sure you have this site white-listed too.
nk (dbc370) — 1/15/2020 @ 9:46 pmoh ok thanks.
JRH (52aed3) — 1/15/2020 @ 9:49 pmThe quiz was worthwhile and it confirmed my own observations.
Paul Montagu (38c55b) — 1/15/2020 @ 9:53 pmI had Biden and Bloomberg tied for 1st at 14, followed by Yang at 10 and then Klobuchar.
My bottom two were Bernie at 3 and Lizzie at 1.
I took the quiz.
Apparently I’m the gungrabbing sida banning socialist, not you
It’s really weird how so many of us are showing the strongest affinity to Bloomberg. I suppose it burnishes his “moderate” credentials, but it also demonstrates to me how silly and superficial this quiz really is.
JVW (54fd0b) — 1/15/2020 @ 10:16 pmBernie sanders/tulsi gabbard 2020.
asset (f48859) — 1/15/2020 @ 10:18 pmI agree with Warren only about legalizing marijuana. (The current situation is Prohibition 2.0).
I’m for allowing a state to opt-out of legalizing it, so that’s why I’m a goose egg with Warren.
JVW (54fd0b) — 1/15/2020 @ 10:18 pmBehind a paywall for me. so all you MSM-haters are also WaPo subscribers? Now that is interesting.
I have a browser which I use for nothing else other than reading the NYT, WaPo, and the rest of the newspapers which limit your access. I clean out my browsing history each time before I close it.
JVW (54fd0b) — 1/15/2020 @ 10:20 pmThe questions I liked the least were stuff like “Should we consider (or not consider) a carbon tax?” Well, I’m fine with “considering” it, but I don’t think in the end we should adopt it unless we cut other taxes in proportion to whatever is raised by the new carbon tax. But I know that a revenue-neutral idea is a non-starter where Democrats are concerned, so in the end I chose the “don’t consider” option.
JVW (54fd0b) — 1/15/2020 @ 10:26 pmBloomberg…
Beware.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/15/2020 @ 10:37 pmWarren – 11
Steyer – 11
Buttigieg – 10
Yang – 10
Gabbard – 10
The Plagiarist Biden – 9 (that’s got t0 be a margin of error, as it is now and forever 0.000.)
Bloomberg – 9
Klobuchar – 9
Sanders – 8
Didn’t see JFK or FDR on the list. 😉
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/15/2020 @ 10:54 pm@13. They offer several free page views per month but we all should get our news only from Brian Kilmeade and weather only from Donald Trump. Have you seen that dude wield a Sharpie?!?!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/15/2020 @ 11:00 pmI uninstalled ad blocker completely and still get a “subscribe now” paywall. Are you cons trying to get me to contribute to the Bezos Empire? Is this your nefarious plan? You won’t sucker me, I get all my news right here at the Pontifications central.
JRH (52aed3) — 1/15/2020 @ 11:04 pmNow I got it. had to clear my cookies.
Bloomberg
15
Biden
13
Klobuchar
12
Buttigieg
11
Yang
11
Steyer
11
Warren
8
Gabbard
6
Sanders
3
JRH (52aed3) — 1/15/2020 @ 11:18 pmBig Gulp-9
mg (8cbc69) — 1/16/2020 @ 2:10 ammedicated Joe-8
ying yang-6
Tulsi-6
steyer-6
klob-5
burnee-5
butthead-5
8 questions I was alone. thank you, Jesus.
I took this silly quiz out of curiosity. I found the questions poorly phrased and the options less than satisfactory. But the Democratic candidates who most closely aligned with my choices to the given answers were Bloomberg and Biden, neither of which I would ever remotely consider voting for. That puts me in a quandary, since I would never remotely consider voting for Trump either.
I’m a man without a party, so it looks like I’ll be voting Libertarian whenever possible. Trump has utterly deformed politics, and the Republicans will regret it. Unfortunately, the Democrats have no solution to the problem.
https://reason.com/2020/01/15/will-any-2020-candidate-offer-an-alternative-to-trumps-trade-protectionism/
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 1/16/2020 @ 2:19 amI am so happy that Trump has deformed politics.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/16/2020 @ 2:58 amMy dream is to rid the voters of the republican and democrat parties.
They both are pos.
MAGA
Our scores are almost identical:
Bloomberg – 10
Biden – 9
Yang – 8
Klobuchar – 5
Gabbard – 5
Steyer – 4
Buttigieg – 3
Sanders – 3
Warren – 1
I whiffed (no agreement with anyone) on 6 questions (fracking, government health insurance, prisoners voting, abortion funding, family leave and student loan debt).
Dave (1bb933) — 1/16/2020 @ 3:16 amDave- Cheers.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/16/2020 @ 3:28 amAgreeing on anything with the new democrat is scary.
Ganja should be illegal.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/16/2020 @ 3:29 amI ended up with 10 for Biden and Bloomberg, 8 for Yang, 7 for Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Gabbard, and Steyer, 3 for Sanders and 2 for Warren. I was surprised (and a bit ashamed, that I agreed with Warren and Sanders on anything. Looking ahead to November, I still have no idea how I’ll vote–or if I’ll vote at all. My conscience won’t allow me to vote for Trump (who missed his mark in life: he was cut out to be a Mafia boss). The Democrats I thought offended me the least (Yang, Klobuchar) are not doing so well in the polls. I’ve never liked Uncle Joe. Could I hold my nose and cast a vote for him anyway? Is he really all there? He says such stupid things all the time, and I was surprised that he came out on the top of my list.
Roger (7efba0) — 1/16/2020 @ 4:59 am@33 “Is he really all there?”
I’ve seen deer in the headlights with more going on upstairs. 🙁
JRH (52aed3) — 1/16/2020 @ 5:26 amBloomberg 8
agesilaus (3132ef) — 1/16/2020 @ 7:18 amBiden 7
I don’t recall the rest except Warren 1
Seems like a lot of cryptosocialists here–Warren 15???
Holy cow. I got exactly the same as you.
It’s amusing how slanted the questions are.
Ty (880a47) — 1/16/2020 @ 7:24 amHuh… Bloomie is #1 for me:
12-Bloomberg
11-Biden
8-Gabbard (YAAAAS KWEEN!)
8-Steyer
6-Yang
6-Klobuchar
4-Boot Edge Edge
3-Sanders
2-Warren
Weird quiz… but, I’m stoked that the socialist Marxist wannabees are my bottom two…
whembly (51f28e) — 1/16/2020 @ 7:27 amQuestions like those included in this iteration are the reason that I do not answer my phone when I can identify the caller as some type of professional pollster. Poorly worded only in that they are intended to force you into a corner from which you have to make a compromise answer.
Given that, I’m happy that I was in partial agreement with Bloomberg less than half the time (9) and had a goodly number of answers.
Damn them all.
rcw3000 (dbe57f) — 1/16/2020 @ 7:29 am……had a goodly number of null answers.
rcw3000 (dbe57f) — 1/16/2020 @ 7:30 amSeems like a lot of cryptosocialists here
Bourgeois lackeys. Bloomberg has the mostest of the firstests.
nk (dbc370) — 1/16/2020 @ 7:32 amBloomberg 11
Biden 10
Gabbard 7
Steyer 7
Klobuchar 6
Yang 6
Buttigieg 5
Sanders 5
Warren 2
Given everyone else’s scores, I’m not surprised by these results. And, as has been mentioned before, some of the questions did not have what would have been my answer, so I picked the least bad answer among those available.
Chuck Bartowski (bc1c71) — 1/16/2020 @ 7:47 amBloomberg 10
Biden 9
Yang 6
Gabbard 6
Steyer 6
Klobuchar 5
Sanders 5
Buttigieg 4
Warren 1
But, by their own list, Trump 19
Kevin M (19357e) — 1/16/2020 @ 11:22 amTrump signed the 12-week paid family leave into law for federal workers, so I disagree with him there.
Kevin M (19357e) — 1/16/2020 @ 11:23 amI would be interested in how pwople score those same questions with Trump’s policies or announced policies. Hint: He, too, wants the national debt to come down and is probably no more hypocritical there and the Democrats.
Kevin M (19357e) — 1/16/2020 @ 11:25 am*hypocritical than the Democrats
Kevin M (19357e) — 1/16/2020 @ 11:26 amThe Wapo should do the same for Trump. Lets see how many would agree with him on 20 questions.
rcocean (1a839e) — 1/16/2020 @ 11:52 amIs everyone ready for the “Conservative/Libertarian case for Joe Biden”? Its coming to Conservative/Libertarian blogs near you.
rcocean (1a839e) — 1/16/2020 @ 12:02 pm@ 47 Not this conservative/libertarian. I’ve never voted for a Democrat at the state or national level in my life. And no case can be made to convince me to vote for one. He or she is NOT Trump doesn’t sway me. I didn’t vote for Trump, nor will I. I also won’t be voting for any Republican who supports, defends or excuses his execrable presidency.
When the Republican party nominates a credible candidate, I will vote for him or her. Otherwise, I’m voting Libertarian, since I will not vote for the candidate the Democratic party nominates. It’s a protest vote more than anything else.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 1/16/2020 @ 12:54 pmI wonder how high Trump would score on the same questions. As I stated, I give him 19 out of 20. I’d particularly like to hear from those who despise Trump. It might shed some light on how terrible the choices we have are.
Kevin M (19357e) — 1/16/2020 @ 4:13 pmThe results I got were:
Bloomberg 12
Yang 10
Biden 9
Steyer 7
Buttigieg 6
Klobuchar 5
Warren 5
Gabbard 4
Sanders 3
With some of the questions I wasn’t really sure what to answer.
Almost everybody got agreement with Sanders more than Warren. I was surprised to see. I think one of the problems is that any alternative ther than the one assigned to the candidate counts as s no.
I had agreement with Sanders and not Warren on: Gun owners should not register all firearms (not the problem and many people will break that law – I’m interested in other things.
I had an agreement with Warren but not Sanders on: The U.S. should consider a carbon tax (the word “consider” and because it’s a consumption tax – and you could give poor people rebates and eliminate some types of government benefits and lower the minimum wage – not because of its supposed effects on the climate.
I had an agreement with Warren but not Sanders on: The U.S. should consider a universal basic income (the word “consider” again and because this could be used to eliminate things like food stamps and other benefits that depend on either income or disability.)
I had an agreement with Warren but not Sanders on: Focus deportation on criminals and national security threats (because of national security threats – except that important national security threats should be deported to Guantanamo. Bloomberg has the same position. Sanders apparently doesn’t worry about national security threats, only violent criminals.
I had agreement with Sanders and not Warren on: A president should not consider adding more justices Here Sanders is less of a radical. That proposal about adding justices is dangerous.
I had an agreement with Warren but not Sanders on: Student loan debt should be canceled for lower incomes (it should be allowed in bankruptcy and much else. I would like both interest and principal to be tax deductible and tax deductible even if paying someone else’s debt. I don’t know what Sanders’ position is. Again, this is something that Bloomberg agreed with Warren on.
So I wound up with two more agreements with Warren than with Sanders.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/16/2020 @ 4:37 pmThe U.S. should consider a carbon tax (the word “consider” and because it’s a consumption tax – and you could give poor people rebates and eliminate some types of government benefits and lower the minimum wage – not because of its supposed effects on the climate.
Yes, because we need more complicated cross-subsidies in the tax code, and more ways to get Peter to pay Paul. It’s especially good that there is no good reason to do it.
Kevin M (19357e) — 1/16/2020 @ 11:37 pm“Focus deportation on criminals and national security threats”
That’s the problem with these quizes. Especially slanted ones from the WaPo. what is “Focus” mean? We ALREADY give priority to deporting criminals and national security threats. That’s just common sense. The true Bernie/Warren position on immigration is: No border wall. Get rid of ICE. Amnesty for everyone. No limits on legal immigration and making illegal entry into the USA a misdemeanor. IOW, Open borders.
And as far as I can tell, Buttigig, Klobblob, and Biden have the same positions. No one disagreed with Castro’s position in the first debate that illegal entry into the USA should be a misdemeanor. None of them support a single reform Trump has proposed to make our immigration laws more sane and sensible. All support sanctuary cities, anchor babies, the diversity lottery, and large numbers of “refugees” including those escaping ‘homophobia’ and ‘spousal abuse’.
rcocean (1a839e) — 1/17/2020 @ 12:15 amBiden has bragged he’s going to spend more $$ than anyone else to combat climate change. IRC, he said $400 Billion. And also stated that Coal Miners will be soon be out of jobs, because we need clean energy. However, he’ll give them money for “training”. They can all become coders, assuming they can survive against the army of cheap H-1B visa holders that Biden will import.
rcocean (1a839e) — 1/17/2020 @ 12:20 amGun owners should not register all firearms
Again, this is a misleading question. What will Sanders or Warren do to protect gun rights? Answer: Nothing. Warren is just being more honest.
Both will appoint judges who will take a Kagan/Ginsburg approach to the 2nd Amendment issues. Both will let the liberal states and the Courts take the lead on Gun Control. Neither will stop liberals in Congress, assuming we get enough of them, from passing Gun Control legislation. So what if Bernie doesn’t “Believe” firearms should be registered? If Congress passes it, will Bernie veto? Of course not.
rcocean (1a839e) — 1/17/2020 @ 12:26 amIf you want to see what a Biden presidency will be like, look at the legislation that Pelosi has passed in the last year. Its being bottled up in the Senate, but once Biden gets elected and we get a Democrat Senate, that legislation will become law. BTW, the D’s have ALREADY stated they will get rid of the filibuster once they get the majority.
rcocean (1a839e) — 1/17/2020 @ 12:29 am@52 nobody is for amnesty for all or unlimited immigration or open borders and saying it over and over and over again just invalidates your opinion because it makes obvious that either you don’t know what you are talking about or you are willing to exaggerate so much that you have created a fictional character in your own mind.
@53 Coal is not a practical fuel in this day and age. It is far more expensive than natural gas and, really, almost all of the other options. Coal miners are going to be out of jobs soon because coal power is too expensive and inefficient and market forces are going to drive it out, regardless of what climate change people do.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/17/2020 @ 12:36 am