I took a couple of those I Side With quizzes. Nothing particularly surprising, except that my affinity with the Republican Party was worse than I thought.
I did take exception to a handful of the answer choices besides YES and NO being counted as the same as mine. For example: “Should National Parks continue to be preserved and protected by the federal government?”
Republicans: Yes, but allow limited logging, drilling, and mining. Your similar answer: Yes. Well, that’s not similar at all, to my mind. This USUALLY is not an issue, but it may skew some results.
Candidates you side with… (links are to the Weekly Sift stump speeches, a work in progress)
92% Bernie Sanders, Democrat (US Senator from VT, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats) on domestic policy, environmental, social, immigration, foreign policy, and healthcare issues. Incidentally, TWICE in the past week, I’ve seen Sanders referred to as the governor of Vermont, once on a network news program, once on the local Time Warner Cable News.
68% Hillary Clinton, Democrat (former US Senator from NY; former Secretary of State) on domestic policy, economic, and foreign policy issues.
28% John Ellis Bush, a/k/a Jeb!, Republican (former governor of FL) – no major issues.
21% Chris Christie, Republican (governor of NJ) on environmental issues. I have SERIOUS doubts that Christie said that thing about a Viagra-like pill for women.
17% Rand Paul, Republican (US Senator from Kentucky) on foreign policy issues.
15% Mike Huckabee, Republican (former governor of AR) – no major issues.
8% Ben Carson, Republican (doctor) – no major issues.
4% Scott Walker, Republican (governor of WI) – no major issues.
3% Rick Santorum, Republican (former US Senator from PA) – no major issues.
3% Marco Rubio, Republican (US Senator from FL) – no major issues.
1% Carly Fiorina, Republican (former corporate head) – no major issues.
1% Ted Cruz, Republican (US Senator from Texas) – no major issues.
I’d be curious how I would have fared vis a vis former governor George Pataki (R-NY), or the other two Democrats in the race, Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chaffee.
Parties you side with…
98% Green Party on domestic policy, economic, environmental, social, foreign policy, immigration, and healthcare issues.
95% Democrats on domestic policy, economic, environmental, foreign policy, social, immigration, healthcare, and education issues.
94% Socialist on domestic policy, economic, environmental, social, foreign policy, immigration, and healthcare issues.
And in case you wonder if I’m freaking about that designation, not especially.
From Daily Kos:
Bernie Sanders went on to express irritation with the way journalists slap the “socialist” label on him, as if his embrace of policies common in the democracies of western Europe makes him a radical outlier.
“It is not a radical agenda,” he said. “In virtually every instance, what I am saying is supported by a significant majority of the American people. Yes, it is not supported by the Business Roundtable or the Chamber of Commerce, or Wall Street. I may be old-fashioned enough to believe that Congress might want to be representing a vast majority of our people … and not just the Koch brothers and other campaign contributors.
“He suggested that if the media are going to refer to him as a socialist, journalists also should affix the label of ‘capitalist’ with every mention of his rivals.”
43% Libertarians on foreign policy issues.
37% Constitution Party on domestic policy issues.
4% Republicans – no major issues.
Despite my right-of-center stances here and there, I have remained in the Democratic fold for 43 years.
That said, if, as expected, the state primary ends up Hillary vs. Bernie, I go for Sanders in a heartbeat. At least I get the feeling he believes what he says.
I blogged about this today, too. Great minds, and all that.
I scored a 96% on Bernie. I suspect the reason I got higher than you is because the poll allowed for more nuanced answers than the usual Yes and No and No Opinion. Specifically, gun rights.
Bernie upsets some Progressives and Liberals because he supports private ownership of guns, a must for a large part of the state he represents. I know you don’t like guns at all, but my position is that they should be banned in the Cities where they are useless nuisances but allowed in the rural areas where they are useful and often necessary tools.
I suspect that last 4% gap for both of us comes from Bernie’s solid pro-Israel stand. I’d wager a small amount of money that you, like me, said this country ought to stop sending arms to EVERYBODY in the Middle East, an attitude that among certain simple-minded persons has branded me a nazi Jew-hater. Seriously, I have to deal with this childishness right now.
But as someone on Facebook recently pointed out, no candidate is perfect. For any informed persons, to agree with a national candidate on more than 90% of the issues is extraordinary and explains Bernie’s astounding surge in recent polls.