June 26, 2014

How did I get to be a "Young Outsider"?

Though I am not young, it's where I fit in "The latest Pew Research Center political typology, which sorts voters into cohesive groups based on their attitudes and values, provides a field guide for this constantly changing landscape."

Oh, wait. That was before I took the quiz, based on reading the descriptions of the 8 categories. After I took the quiz — which never asked if I was old or young, so that's not the cause of this change — I became a "Business Conservative."

How about you? Read the text and take a guess at what you are, as I did, before you take the quiz, and let us know how you turned out.

47 comments:

Meade said...

I thought I was a Business Conservative... and I AM.

Irene said...

Same result as Althouse: I thought I was a "Young Outsider," but I am a "Business Conservative."

I knew I wasn't young because that charming-bad-logic quiz a few weeks ago put me at 62.

ALP said...

I guessed Hard Pressed Skeptic, got Business Conservative.

Michael said...

Business Conservative. On point.

PB said...

yes, I'm a business conservative. But I think the quiz is crap.

tim in vermont said...

I thought I was a "young outsider" but alas, I am a "business conservative."

mesquito said...

Business conservative. Man, Althouse must be a total hardass.

madAsHell said...

Steadfast Conservative.

...and now there are black helicopters circling the house.

Sean Gleeson said...

I expected to be a Steadfast Conservative, and so I am.

Bob R said...

I made it through 14 questions and thought that the only reasonable answer to eight was, "the person who chose these alternatives is a moron." Pew - Research with a really bad smell.

FissionChips said...

Same reaction as Ann and I am Ann's age.

Then I took the quiz and got Business Conservative.

The forced choice wording of the questions can't distinguish between strong market & personal freedom libertarianism and business conservative.

Unknown said...

I guessed I would be a Business Conservative and I am too. Unfortunately they had no category for Opinionated Malcontent which would have been my first guess

Original Mike said...

I could have seen myself coming out as either Young Outsider or Business Conservative. The result: Business Conservative.

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think they made any distinction between legal and illegal immigration.

Salamandyr said...

Two different questions on immigration, both of which conflate legal and illegal immigration. The whole survey was sandbagging, and proof that liberals can't adequately, and honestly state the positions of their opponents.

DanTheMan said...

Steadfast Conservative

Which means I'm a racist and should be forced to pay reparations.

Just saving Crack some typing...

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Predictably, I landed in the most centrist group. It's good to be a reasonable man.

n.n said...

Young independent - Constitutional views on government, Classical views on science (including biology), pro-American (i.e. bias towards 300+ million men, women, and children), pro-immigrant in as much it does not ignore the conditions which motivate mass emigration nor the consequences for domestic communities

That said, based on the survey's characterizations, I would characterize the "Pew Research Center" as left-wing libertine.

lb said...

I am a young outsider. These quizzes have questions that are too broad in some areas, and too specific in others.

Original Mike said...

"Many Say Democrats too Reliant on Government Solutions, Republicans too Quick to Cut Programs"

Really? Name a program the Republicans have cut.

Billy Oblivion said...

That was even DUMBER than most of the already pretty idiotic facebook polls.

The choices presented as "this or that" were often neither.

Idiot pollsters.

Robert Cook said...

Solid Liberal.

Well, I should think so...at least!

kcom said...

I came out Business Conservative but I was laughing at the absurdity of the poll by the time I finished.

A typically stupid choice was this one:

- This country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment.

- This country has gone too far in its efforts to protect the environment.


You have an absolutist answer versus a non-absolutist answer. The first option uses an absolutist "whatever it takes". The second option puts the effort on a sliding scale and asks if we're too far towards one end. How about rewording the first question to "This country hasn't gone far enough". Then you might have an actual comparison between different but complementary positions.

But as it is, I chose the second choice (whether I actually agree with it or not in its particularity) because the absolutist choice is just about never going to be right in politics or economics. We need to avoid that way of think at all costs (see what I did there? LOL).

Anonymous said...

I predicted either Young Outsider or Hard-Pressed Skeptic. I got Business Conservative. I think Fission Chips has it right, as I class myself as Libertarian and indeed as fairly hardcore Libertarian.

Original Mike said...

"- This country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment."

90% who picked this don't understand what they're saying. The other 10% are fascists.

Phil 314 said...

Well I thought I'd end up in the business conservative


and I did.

sinz52 said...

From the descriptions, I expected to be a Business Conservative.

And the results of my quiz confirmed it.

Phil 314 said...

I landed in the most centrist group. It's good to be a reasonable man.

And which choice was the most centrist.

In a quiz that claims to dispel the concept of a bipolar world you declare your selection is "reasonable" from a bipolar perspective

Jupiter said...

That was interesting. I chose the wrong answer to every question. That made me a Solid Liberal, along with 15% of the public. I guess believing in God does not interfere with being a Solid Liberal. Who knew? Pew.

JustOneMinute said...

Speaking as a Business Conservative (a highly plausible sorting, BTW) I deplore the grammar of their questions.

Each one was of the form "Which of (a) or (b) is closest to your view". Surely the superlative is not appropriate; which of (a) or (b) is CLOSER to my view would be right.

Anonymous said...
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Fernandinande said...

"Steadfast Conservative", which is incorrect, perhaps because they don't have a "libertarian" (small l) category. Also, poor questions.

Deirdre Mundy said...

I predicted steadfast conservative but got business conservative. Which explains why I find Althouse a comfortable read, I guess.

Dave said...

I thought I would be a business conservative but got young outsider.

chuck said...

I quit trying to answer the questions after the third. It was like some annoying ass**** was trying to put words in my mouth. Neither of the two possible answers too the questions were even near what I think. Zero nuance. The quiz is rather typical of the genre in that it hammers square pegs into round holes. Tagged sociological BS.

Danno said...

It looks like business conservative is 90% of the Althouse commenter group, but only 10% of the total population. (I'm a BC too!)

traditionalguy said...

STEADFAST CONSERVATIVE, of course.

Smilin' Jack said...

Though I am not young, it's where I fit in "The latest Pew Research Center political typology, which sorts voters into cohesive groups based on their attitudes and values, provides a field guide for this constantly changing landscape."

Oh, wait. That was before I took the quiz....


Well, pathetic poser, I'll have you know that I have what it takes to officially be a "Young Outsider," even though I'm older than you. So take some vitamin pills or something, before it's too late....

Carnifex said...

Steadfast conservative. Damn straight, Skippy.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Steadfast, Steadfast. No surprises.

jdallen said...

Too many questions were ambiguous. Like voting, I often chose the least odious option.

wildswan said...

I disagreed with both positions so many times that my position couldn't be evaluated

S said...

Yeah, that was a terrible quiz. Most of my answers would have had the caveat "but that's none of the government's business", which is kind of a major caveat for determining a political label. Relevant to that caveat is the distinct lack of any category that's even remotely libertarian.

Henry said...

wildswan wrote: I disagreed with both positions so many times that my position couldn't be evaluated

I explicitly controlled my coin flips. If I went heads on one idiotic binary, I went tails on the next one of the same ilk.

Result: "Next Generation Left" which apparently means:

"You are a very confused person."

Freeman Hunt said...

Political astrology.

Freeman Hunt said...

I also guessed Young Outsider and got Business Conservative.

Related: That's one of the stupidest online quizzes I've ever taken.

"Okay, we have some questions for you. Now, they are hard. You'll often think that you don't agree with either answer, but you must select the answer that is closest to what you think, even if the closest is not close at all in fact."
"Okay."
"Number one: I like to eviscerate stray dogs OR I like to behead house cats."
"What?!"
"Select the answer closest to what you believe."
"But..."
"Closest!"
"Okay. Uh... The beheading one, I guess. I think that would be less painful to the animal. But I would never in a million years..."
"Alright, number two: Sex is a sickening act, and all humans should be forcibly sterilized OR I like to engage in orgies with children. Which one?"
"Neither!"
"Closest."
"This is nonsense."
"You are wrong. This is science. Top men came up with this quiz. You must select one of the statements."
"I'm sure as hell not going to pick the second one. Whatever the first one was."
"Okay, I'll take that down. 'Test subject thinks sex is sick and wants all people forcibly sterilized."
"I did not..."
"Number three. I peed my pants just now OR I enjoy saving my vomit in a large jar. Which is most true of you?"
"This quiz is gross."
"Says the guy who pees himself or saves his vomit."

Non-Spinning Regular Tie said...

Henry - While I'm libertarian, and should have been Young Outsider, I got Business Conservative. Next Left is obviously meant to conflate libertarians with the "Left" in order to make anyone not "liberal" or "left" as basically social conservative. And therefore racist, sexist, and anti-poor.

It's horrifically biased and constructed to make anyone who's not a progressive democrat look like a stodgy idiot with no heart.

Non-Spinning Regular Tie said...

Freeman - Permit some internet slang, but I LOL'd at your perfect replication of the quiz.

Well played!

And, yeah, political astrology is right.

"Do you like to bash toddlers with socks full of ball-bearings OR Do you think the government should help the poor by eating the rich?"