VERSION 2.0
Countdown to Election '08
How well do you match up to your candidate's positions?
Take our Candidate Match-Up Quiz
Read each statement and take your position. For best results, be honest in your answers, and if you are not sure, do a little research before answering. There is no time limit, so feel free to open a second browser window and look up the issues and form your own opinion. (Obviously, you should avoid generating your opinion from information gathered from a politician's website.)
Once you have selected all of your choices, click the submit button below to see how you compare to the other candidates.
New In Version 2.0:
Candidate vote counts (Candidate % of Total Matches ) where reset to 0 on May 9, 2008.
All new questions! Based on requests, we have updated our quiz with new questions.
Clicking the More Info button will give you an overview of the support or oppose options to help make your decision clearer.
2008 CANDIDATE MATCH-UP QUIZ v2.0
Do you believe that abortion is a womens right?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: Restricting `Partial-Birth Abortions' or other specific procedures is reasonable, but clinic access should be unfettered, since other women may choose differently than you. You are pro-choice, but believe that some restrictions are acceptable.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: The fetus is a human being who has rights independent of its mother's rights. You are "pro-life." While abortion under certain circumstances might be tolerated, the basic rights belong to the fetus, not the mother.
Do you believe that companies should be required to hire more women and minorities?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: Under-represented groups should be favored, but perhaps basing results on formal quotas goes too far. Nevertheless, the government should prosecute companies which discriminate against women and minorities.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Affirmative Action is better described as Reverse Discrimination. Quotas based on race and gender are wrong, whichever race or gender they favor. Under-represented groups should fend for themselves without government intervention.
Do you believe that sexual orientation should be protected by civil rights laws?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: Homosexuals should be treated with equal respect as other members of society, not treated as criminals. You acknowledge the diversity of our society by including same-sex partners in most or all benefits of heterosexual marriage partners, but civil unions are preferable to using the term 'marriage.'
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Homosexuality is immoral. You believe that the 'Gay Agenda' seeks to normalize homosexual activity and make it part of the mainstream as 'just another lifestyle.' We must draw the line so that homosexual values are not imposed upon our children.
Do you believe that voluntary teacher lead prayer should be allowed in public schools?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: We need to teach values in our schools. The more our children are exposed to prayer, the Ten Commandments, and other traditional values, the better off they are.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Separation of church and state precludes allowing school prayer. It also precludes other aspects of religion in schools, such as posting the Ten Commandments in public places. We should not violate the Constitutional principle in this case.
Do you support the death penalty?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: The death penalty and other strict forms of law enforcement will reduce the crime rate by removing criminals from the streets and by deterring others from criminal acts. Capital punishment laws should be enforced, although perhaps adjusted to ensure a fair process and to avoid mistakes.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: State-sanctioned killing is wrong. Capital punishment should be abolished as a form of 'cruel and unusual punishment.'
Are you in support of mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws ?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: The government should provide coverage or subsidize health insurance for at-risk groups such as children and the elderly. Society benefits when more people are covered. Universal health insurance is a good goal, although some market methods can work as well as government systems.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Nationalized health care would entail a government takeover of a large portion of the economy and undue intrusions into our personal medical histories. Remove the federal government from the health care industry.
Are you in support of the absolute right to gun ownership for American Citizens?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: It's not the instrument, it's the morality. Gun ownership should not be restricted - most gun owners use them safely and responsibly. To reduce gun-related crimes, address the moral problems of society and other issues.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: More guns mean more killing. Limit availability of guns by whatever means are effective. The 2nd amendment does not mean an unlimited right to any and all firearms.
Do you support providing more federal funding for health coverage?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: The government should provide coverage or subsidize health insurance for at-risk groups such as children and the elderly. Society benefits when more people are covered. Universal health insurance is a good goal, although some market methods can work as well as government systems.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Nationalized health care would entail a government takeover of a large portion of the economy and undue intrusions into our personal medical histories. Remove the federal government from the health care industry.
Do you support privatizing Social Security?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: The Trust Fund might be invested in the stock market or via some other private investment vehicle. Individuals should be given at least some control over how their retirement funds are invested.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Social Security should remain forever under federal control to ensure that all Americans have a secure retirement. The Trust Fund should not be invested in anything like the stock market, since that would introduce undue risk.
Do you feel that parents should be able to choose schools via vouchers?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: School choice helps the poor who would otherwise be stuck in failing schools. Why should only the elite be able to afford private school? Subsidize parents' school choices to foster equality, as long as the school respects separation of church and state, and meets basic state standards. Charter schools are a good compromise.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Public schools are an important component of American society. Improve public schools rather than destroying them with vouchers. More teachers, smaller classes, more funding - then parents will choose public schools.
Do you support replacing coal & oil with alternatives energy sources?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: We should establish a market-based solution for excess carbon emissions, and the problem will be solved. The Kyoto Protocol should require developing countries' participation to make the solution work.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: There's no such thing as global warming - it's all natural climatic variation. And if there is a problem, it won't affect us much, and we can deal with the problems as they arise.
Do you support stricter penalties and stricter enforcement of drug enforcement policies?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: The Drug War is winnable if we invest enough resources. We should do whatever we have to do: More police, more border patrols, more intervention abroad, more prison terms, more prisons.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: The Drug War should be ended. It has failed, condemning a 'Lost Generation' of blacks and Hispanics to prison and criminal records. End it now like we ended alcohol Prohibition, and organized crime and drug-related crime will decrease like it did when Prohibition ended.
Do you support allowing churches to provide welfare services?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: Support Charitable Choice: remove restrictions on religious organizations' activities, so that churches can bid on government block grants for performing welfare services. Continue other experiments with faith-based organizations.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Compassion requires us to maintain and fund a federal welfare system. The neediest members of society should have a federally-guaranteed safety net.
Do you support broad tax reform including making taxes more progressive?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: Flatter taxes benefit the wealthy more than the lower and middle class. We should focus tax relief on the majority of taxpayers instead of on the richest few percent, while preserving important deductions like mortgage interest and charitable donations.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Ideally, the income tax and the IRS should be abolished. Perhaps a national sales tax, like the FairTax, is a good replacement. Lower and flatter taxes are a good first step.
Do you support giving illegal immigrants a path to earn citizenship?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: The government should make few restrictions on immigration. If the number of immigrants is too high, establish an immigration fee and raise it until the number of immigrants is acceptable. Or change the immigration quotas by some other method.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: We should strictly enforce our immigration laws by increasing border patrols, and we should crack down on illegal immigrants already in the US by deportation and by removing all their social benefits. In the long run, we should decrease immigration.
Do you support the maintaining & expanantion of free trade?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: Free trade is in our national interest because it provides economic growth and jobs. We should only restrict free trade when it poses a security risk. Including environmental and labor safeguards are acceptable if they can be successfully negotiated into trade agreements, but should not be used as a pretext to stop trade agreements.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Americans should buy from other Americans because that creates American jobs. We should restrict trade with any country which costs us jobs or which creates a trade deficit. Globalization is just another means of corporate influence over our society.
Do you support expanding our US armed forces?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: We should consider carefully before making more cuts - for example, base closings have hurt local economies, and reducing military personnel has put pressure on employment.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Defense spending includes huge amounts of pork-barrel spending and should be reduced dramatically. We should change our Defense policy to one of defense, instead of one where we police the world. Pull US troops out of Europe, Japan, Korea, and elsewhere. We are wrong to have a military that is as large as the rest of the world combined.
Do you support the troop surge in Iraq?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
Iraq is a point of access for world terrorism. Withdrawing from Iraq prematurely will appear as weakness in the eyes of terrorists and possibly encorage further violence around the world.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: US involvement in Iraq is too great and cost too much money. Withdrawing of troops should have a difinitive deadline, after which all troops should come home.
Do you support stricter limits on political campaign funds?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: Reforms are needed in campaign finance, in order to reduce the influence of moneyed interests. Those reforms might include restrictions on personal donations to political campaigns; restrictions on corporate, labor union, or PAC donations; and restrictions on PAC activities.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: Campaign donations are free speech, and should not be limited for corporations nor for individuals. PACs and 527 committees should be similarly allowed free speech via unlimited spending on any issue or any candidate they choose.
Do you feel that the Patriot Act harms civil liberties?
POSITIONS
SUPPORT
or
You believe: Homeland security needs should be balanced with respect for civil rights, and the Patriot Act goes too far. The sunset clause (automatic phaseout) should apply to all aspects so that the Patriot Act automatically disappears when the War on Terror is ended. Some provisions should be repealed immediately, because they grant too much power to the federal government and restrict our Constitutional rights too much.
OPPOSE
or
You believe: The president should be granted all the means necessary to fight the War on Terror. When dealing with terrorists who want to destroy our country, stretching the definitions of torture and the Geneva Convention is necessary. Remember the victims of 9/11 first, and focus on preventing another 9/11 rather than focusing on civil rights of terrorists.