If you are in North Carolina you can listen to State Of Things on your local NPR station. Just about to start (12noon EDT):
What Your Vote Says About You: So you think you're a conservative? Or a liberal? New research shows that you may not know how you fall on the political spectrum after all, and you may be especially confused when you vote. Host Frank Stasio talks with James Stimson, a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about what your vote says about your real political leanings.
This is the second story (after Blakwater and before Depression)
Update: So far, he is saying what I was saying for a couple of years now - there is a huge proportion of Americans who self-identify as conservative yet are entirely liberal (self-professed liberals are mainly correct). Those people go for the symbols, not policies - whichever party controls the symbols, the language and the conversation, wins these people who are the ulitimate swing voters. The term "conservative" is more popular and that is why Republicans are winning no matter how liberal Americans are.
Comments
I was a high school librarian for a couple of years, and I included some candidate compatability quizzes on an elections website. The political science teacher had each student in 2004 take the quizzes, and to one student's surprise, it turned out that he wasn't a Bush supporter after all. His parents were die-hard Republicans, but all of his positions came down on the other side. He was inspired to thoroughly research the candidates and took the role of Kerry in a school debate. The Christian Science Monitor had a quiz in 2004, so presumably they'll have one in 2008.
Posted by: Aggie | July 24, 2006 1:41 PM
This is the problem with bipartisan states; the dichotomy between political idiologies breeds a sort of nationalism (partyism?); i.e. it's not just that you support your own political party, you hate the other one.
I would love to see a small nation try and become completely democratic, i.e. every individual votes on every mater deemed important enough by the congress/parliment. You just log on and vote. Might not work, but it would be interesting.
Posted by: BilZ0r | July 24, 2006 5:42 PM
That is what I had in mind here
Posted by: coturnix | July 24, 2006 6:19 PM
this is not good
Posted by: ruth | October 12, 2006 11:16 AM