Are you more (or less) liberal than President Obama? Take our quiz!

[dajoki]

Are you more (or less) liberal than President Obama? Take our quiz!

Some Democrats see President Obama’s first term as a string of promises broken by the realities of political office. On the other side, Republicans have labeled Mr. Obama the most radical, liberal president in American history, going so far as to brand him a socialist.

Are you more of a lefty than President Obama? Do his positions contradict your values? Or is the match just right? Take our quiz to find out.

- Laura Edwins, Contributor

Take The Quiz:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2012/0709/Are-you-more-or-less-liberal-than-President-Obama-Take-our-quiz/What-s-the-best-plan-to-reduce-our-dependency-on-foreign-oil

My result:

Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

[longship]

1. Me, too. But it won't stop me from voting for him.

Nor to strongly advocate for his re-election.

[dajoki]

4. Nor I n/t

[HooptieWagon]

2. Thats a pretty low bar... Richard Nixon was more liberal than Pres Obama.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

5. yup.

[emsimon33]

18. I agree!

[stevenleser]

34. Pres Nixon was a member of a more liberal Republican Party that had no pushback on Liberal policies

from anyone.

Yeah, really tough to put forth Liberal policies in that situation.

[SidDithers]

42. I'm sure the students at Kent State thought so too...nt

Sid

[HooptieWagon]

64. Ask the Occupiers,

the victims of stop and frisk, and the numerous people killed by tasers.

[Art_from_Ark]

77. It wasn't Nixon who sicced the National Guard on those students

It was Ohio governor James Rhodes

[demosincebirth]

48. Ask union members at the time he was president. They'll paint you a different picture.

That's only your personnel opinion.

[HooptieWagon]

66. And Obama really stepped up to bat for Wisconsin unions?

Yea, right <rolleyes>
Ask the teachers unions how pleased they are with Arne's privatizing education project.

[demosincebirth]

73. What did you want him to do... be there at the rotunda amongst the union supporters? The

repugs would have loved to see that for their propaganda machine.

[rufus dog]

59. Bullshit

If you think Nixon or Ronnie wouldn't have cuddled up to the Christian Taliban you are delusional.

[HooptieWagon]

65. Ronnie did, Nixon didn't.

The talibornagain weren't significant political force until Roe v. Wade.
Nixon signed the EPA into existence, the Clean Water Act, beginnings of emission standards on aitomobiles (including removing lead from gasoline), began nuclear disarmament with Soviets, established diplomatic ties with China. Not all he did was "liberal", but those he did do is more liberal than Obama.

[grantcart]

3. I think a more interesting question would be: Have you had more or less actual impact on

the policies and the people that progressive policies are aimed at achieving?

[NNN0LHI]

6. I don't click on any CSM links since I caught them linking to freerepublic some years ago

[Skidmore]

7. Does that include weighting for an obstructionist Republican Congress?

How about are you more or less liberal than Mitt Romney?

[stevenleser]

36. Exactly. This poll is ridiculous. Put a sprinter in a wheelchair and see if you are faster

Totally meaningless poll.

[Populist_Prole]

8. Looks like I'm more liberal than he is

[tularetom]

9. LOL, I'm "definitely a lefty"

I didn't agree when they said I might be a person who would have voted for Ralph Nader but otherwise it was a pretty good quiz.

[yellerpup]

10. They said, "Definite a lefty...

and hold a more communistic viewpoint. Then they suggested I'd like Nader better than Obama! I vote Obama!

[immoderate]

22. I rated the same...

I will vote for Barack, hoping he will do better.

The communist/Ralph Nader remarks were a bit presumptive of them. And with a hint of derision.

--imm

[yellerpup]

47. I thought so, too.

I think he will do better. We just really need to be on top of voter suppression, vote counting, and dirty tricks in the lower races so he gets a Congress who will work with him.

I was insulted to be thrown to Nader. There were some ugly, (and to me) unthinkable choices in that survey.

[deutsey]

88. But that reveals just how narrow and rigid our political desingations have become

and how much to the right everything has shifted since the '70s.

I rated "definitely a lefty" too (which I am), but I thought the communist/Nader remarks were way offbase in terms of my political leanings. I'm probably closer to a New Deal lefty, but in today's political world that's characterized as being a naively idealistic communist.

PS: I will vote for Obama as I did I did in 2008, but, as usual, my vote is more a vote against the other side than it is an entusiastic vote for "our side."

[SammyWinstonJack]

52. That's same rating I got. Nader? I don't think so! I voted Obama and will again.

[yellerpup]

62. I can't imagine voting for Nader, not back when,

not now, not ever.

[Bettie]

11. I'm more liberal....but I'll still work for him and vote for him.

Your results
Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08.

I must say though, I didn't think the Clintons were all that liberal.

[Sherman A1]

12. I came out as definitely a lefty

but, then I am too the left of Dennis Kucinich so this is hardly a surprise.

[drmeow]

44. Me, too!

During the last presidential primary he came closest to my views but still not left enough.

[frazzled]

13. Do you mean when I was President, or just a regular citizen ...

sitting in my armchair, not actually having to ... you know ... DO anything?

You know, I'm quite liberal in my head, but when I am actually charged with governing the country, and faced with a hostile opposing party and a few obstinate senators from my own (sometimes called Nelson or Baucus or some such thing), I'm sometimes forced to temper my personal opinions and cut deals. Just like Roosevelt and Johnson before me.

When I'm only having to type on a computer keyboard, I'm effing Che Guevara!

[boxman15]

93. Exactly how I feel.

Because of the circumstances of being president, especially with the modern day GOP descending into madness, it's impossible to be ideologically pure and get anything done. FDR was accused of the same things Obama is now: to the right, he was a communist, to the left he was a leader who blew his opportunity and caved too much to business and to conservatives (in his own party).

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. You're definitely a lefty! Your politics are considered radical by many,....

You're definitely a lefty!

Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you.

[bananas]

91. me too. nt

[WCGreen]

15. That took a bit of time....

I liked the nuance contained in many of the choices

I came in to the left of president Obama and sadly, I believe I will still be more liberal than former president Obama.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. color me shocked - I am more liberal. A few odd choices in those questions, but kinda fun to take.

And of course I will vote for Obama in the coming election!

[maddezmom]

17. like someone said upthread, I'm still voting for Obama and support him

Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08.

[surrealAmerican]

19. According to them ...

... I'm "definitely a lefty", and they seem to think I might not have voted for Obama? They're certainly wrong about that.

It's not a very good quiz. Many of the questions had no good answers; a few had more than one good answer.

[HooptieWagon]

21. I agree.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

20. Don't need a quiz for that answer.

The gods know I wish he were a "radical/liberal/socialist" President.

[HooptieWagon]

23. Id be tickled if he were only slightly left of center...

That would be a big improvement over his right of center position on many issues.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. Yes, I'm a liberal.

No surprise.

Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!
You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08.

As for being a Hillary supporter, I did support her over President Obama, but they were my two last choices. I most closely aligned with Mike Gravel.

[Luminous Animal]

40. "Towing... the line?" Sigh, the correct phrase is fading away. Even the CMS editors didn't catch it.

[Blue_In_AK]

45. I know.

I just copied and pasted, but this particular grammatical error bothers me, too.

[Brickbat]

79. There were tons of copy errors in that quiz. Shameful.

[Buns_of_Fire]

25. I'm more liberal, but that's probably not too uncommon around these parts.

I'm tempted to take the quiz again and answer everything along the lines of "they should be killed," "it's their own fault," "I got mine, so screw you," and the like just to see if I can score to the right of Attila the Hun/a teabagger/Yurtle the McConnell.

[LeftofObama]

26. I guess I picked the correct user name!

Your results
Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08.

[Grey]

27. Lefty......

Your results
You're definitely a lefty!

Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you.

[Third Doctor]

28. I'm more liberal

This is no surprise. I'm the hated socialist that the repubs sweay by all of the time.

[Jamaal510]

29. ...

You're definitely a lefty!
Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you.

Looks like I should lay off those liberal propaganda channels MSNBC and Current!

But on a more serious note, I refuse to waste my vote on 3rd parties. I was only 10 at the time, but I witnessed the mistake Nader voters made in 2000 by splitting the vote on the left to help give us *. There are no viable 3rd party candidates, and all they would be is a spoiler to help Republicans. Until they can put up a candidate who has a decent shot at winning, along with some members of the same party to work with in Congress, there's no point IMO in supporting 3rd party candidates.

[scheming daemons]

30. push poll. the REAL question should be:

Which candidate, Obama or Romney, more closely aligns with your world view?

Telling lefties they should "vote for Nader" is a RW psyops tactic.

[patrice]

32. My thoughts exactly.

[patrice]

31. No thanks. I already know where I am & he is in the political spectrum. Saw that poll on FB and

went through some of the questions, felt like it was trawling for margin-splitting 3rd-way/party click trails.

Do you really think CSM is running it for free?

Not.

What are the poll owners supposed to get out of it for their money?

[progressivebydesign]

33. Not all Democrats are liberals. btw.

He's much more moderate, but definitely more liberal than Clinton. I'm more of a moderate, and he suits me just fine.

I've matured enough in my life to know that you aren't going to get all of your favorite things fixed or handled by one person in office. That's foolish. And he's certainly not the "anyone but Rmoney," to everyone I know. Anyone who believes that a truly liberal president is going to be operating in DC, with a hostile group of republicans thwarting everything, special interest attack dogs, and unfriendly and hostile media, then you're dreaming.

[treestar]

35. Surprising

You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08.

Though the questions, I thought were too convoluted, containing more than one idea and premise. The quiz was not about how liberal Obama himself might be, but how he handles the Presidency - are they assuming the more liberal the person is, the more they would refuse to compromise? They seem to be asking the person who takes the quiz not whether they agree with Obama, but whether they agree with his compromises, which are totally necessary given that there are checks and balances.

[JHB]

37. Ugh. Can they caricature positions even more, please?

I bagged it a third of the way through. I already know I'm more liberal than the president, and I'm not a socialist.

[RebelOne]

38. My results.

Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08.

[MrSlayer]

39. Of course I am.

I knew that without taking the quiz.

Some of the questions on there were ridiculous though and I didn't agree with any of the answers.

[a kennedy]

41. Holy crap......that whole nader voting thing is suggested again........

my results: You're definitely a lefty!

Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you.

shouldn't even post this again.....http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002919910 but I HAVE LEARNED from my mistake......
and d*mn right I'm voting for President Obama again......

[drmeow]

43. You're definitely a lefty!

"Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you."

Yup - that's me! There were plenty of questions where my response was "the first part of this one and the second part of that one" or "none of the above"

I did vote for him and will vote for him again. I've given up on anyone in the US government actually representing my views.

[PADemD]

46. Definitely a lefty!

But vote for Ralph Nader? No!

[fredamae]

49. I already knew it lol

"You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all."

Say what you will, but it nailed me to a "T". Even suggesting I might have been a Hillary supporter- I was.
I'm voting for Obama-no question, no doubt, no waiver-no fear of seeing attack ads-tho I am considering cutting cable until its over. I've heard about the total Koch/Rove/Adelson etc Multi Billion dollar negative ad blackout in the midwest and I just "ain't" into that.

[bigwillq]

50. You're definitely a lefty!

Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you.

[marmar]

51. "Definitely a lefty......radical"

Strange, I never considered being anti-war, pro-equality, and pro-fairness to be "radical" concepts.

[Jamaal510]

63. Either this quiz must've been made by a conservative,

or this country is further to the right than we thought.

[MannyGoldstein]

53. Two-Thirds of Americans favor Medicare for All, ...

not cutting Social Security, ending "free" trade, and so forth. But that measure, more than two-thirds of Americans are to the left of the President. Heck, even most Republicans are in favor of those things, IIRC

[craigmatic]

54. The christian science monitor is horse shit.

Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08.

I wasn't a Hillary supporter and I only miss the Clinton years for nostalgia reasons not because he was a good president because truth be told Obama is more progressive than Bill ever was in terms of getting things done.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

55. Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

well, not that difficult is it.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

56. I'm a lefty!

You're definitely a lefty!

Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you.

[Abra]

57. Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

Not that this is exactly difficult to accomplish. In my opinion, Obama is just the latest corporate party representative.

[rufus dog]

58. More liberal - but what a fucking JOKE of a survey/quiz

First off my outcome:

"You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08."

Now some of the questions were horribly worded forcing me to make a choice that this is closest to how I feel but far from my real opinion.

The the statement that I probably miss the Clinton years and may have been a Hillary supporter! WHAT THE FUCK!

I am more liberal than the President, the Clintons are to the right of the President, what a fucking asinine automated response.

[JustAnotherGen]

60. More liberal here

[xchrom]

61. Lefty here! Damn proud of it. Nt

[whatchamacallit]

67. No surprise

Your results:

You're definitely a lefty!

[Prophet 451]

68. I'm much more liberal

I'm a Social Democrat (which in US terms, probably makes me a commie).

[permatex]

69. Took the quiz

I'm more liberal than Pres. Obama.
Still will vote for him.

[TheKentuckian]

70. You're definitely a lefty!

I never even considered voting Nader, though I have no issue with those who did.

[sakabatou]

71. I'm a lefty, but I'll vote for him again

I don't want another asshole in the WH again.

[stevenleser]

72. Pollwriter's definition of the left-right scale clearly comes from a Republican mindset.

This poll would suggest that FDR is to the left of Pol Pot.

[Skidmore]

75. +1,000,000.

And look how many jumped right into it.

[HarveyDarkey]

74. You're definitely a lefty!

Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you.

Actually I'm A Socialist & voted for Cynthia McKinney.

[Douglas Carpenter]

76. I administered this test to my Obama-hating, conservative Republican boss and this is his result

Your results

Obama's your main man.

You're a moderate liberal, or maybe even an Independent. You agree with most of the decisions President Obama has made while in office, and you understand that compromise is sometimes necessary

[woo me with science]

78. That says a lot.

Lotta denial going around.

[stevenleser]

80. It says this is a badly crafted poll where taker's views are skewed left.

It was crafted from what a Freeper would say about various viewpoints and how left they make you.

It doesnt really say much about Obama.

[woo me with science]

81. The denial has reached the point of ludicrousness.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=146626

We have been here watching the whole time, and the record says it all.

[stevenleser]

82. That you would use such a poorly crafted poll to make a negative statement about Obama says a lot.

Excuse me, not just say something about Obama, but the DUers that support him.

That is what you call obsessively negative about someone/something.

[woo me with science]

84. Good luck with that.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....Yeah, it's about me again. It always is.

Anything to divert from the actual corporate policies that keep coming and coming and coming...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002921492

You have a good day, Steven.

[stevenleser]

85. Unfortunately, you have made it about you. Everything is twisted into evidence that supports you.

You grasp onto completely ridiculous pieces of evidence and twist them to fit your narrative.

I realize this is a waste of time because someone doing what you are doing is probably beyond convincing, but someone has to say it.

[bananas]

94. It's about Obama and how far to the right country has gone.

Obama's a moderate conservative: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1548942&mesg_id=1548942

[Douglas Carpenter]

87. I was thinking primarily in terms of how many, maybe even most Republicans really have no idea what

The Republican Party supports and even less idea about what the Democratic Party supports.

In 1984 when Reagan carried 49 out of 50 states, many political scientist were perplexed by the reality that when polled on specific positions – by equally landslide proportions – most American clearly were far closer to agreeing with Walter Mondale than with Ronald Reagan on the issues.

But even then - although Walter Mondale originally had a background as a Hubert Humphrey protégé - by the time of the 1984 elections his actually specific positions on specific issues had shiftd so much to the right that one was certainly not voting for the kind of New Dealer/Great Society policies that many people thought a Mondale vote represented. Even then, not only did Republicans assume that the Democratic Party was far more left than it actually was - most Democratic Party supporters assumed that the Democratic Party was considerably more left than it actually was. This has been the case for a long time now.

[Stinky The Clown]

83. That was a terrible poll. Who wrote those questions?

Anyway, here is what it said about me.

You're definitely a lefty!

Your politics are considered radical by many, and sometimes you even agree with communist policies. You disagree with most of President Obama's decisions, but you may not have voted for him anyway. Someone like Ralph Nader would be a better candidate for you.

[Douglas Carpenter]

90. I don't have as a big a problem with the questions but their analysis is from Neptune

Congratulations! You're more liberal than President Obama!

You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all. You've probably been frustrated with President Obama's policies on more than one occasion, especially when he compromises with Republicans. You probably miss the Clinton years, and may have even been a Hillary supporter in '08.

I mean WTF is that last sentence all about?

Anyone with even a cursory understanding of policy knows that Clinton pursed even more conservative-friendly/Republican lite policies than Obama. Are the authors of these statements really THAT ignorant?


And what does this mean?:

You're proudly towing the liberal line, canvas tote bag and all.

The general theme seems to be the standard line of establishment media and for that matter the whole political class - to believe in basic traditional democratic values is to be all ponies and rainbows.

[Arkana]

86. The shit? I'm more liberal than Obama, but why on Earth would it tell me I was

a Hillary supporter in 2008?

There was barely any difference between them--Obama may have trended slightly more left, but geez!

[Xyzse]

89. Sadly...

I am more liberal than the President Obama.
I knew this of course, even if I am no Democrat.
I've always considered him right of center, and the Right's allegation that he is the most liberal president is baseless. I just find them going off the deep end.

[boxman15]

92. I won't bother taking the quiz. I know I'm to the left of Obama, but that's not what matters really.

The bullshit "You're a commie, so you'd be better off voting for Nader!!" comment really irks me, so I won't even bother. Besides, I know I'm to the left of the president.

But, Obama has been severely limited by an obstructionist Republican House and Blue Dog Democrats. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about that. Regardless, Obama is the most liberal president this country has had since LBJ (a very low bar, I understand). And he's way to the left of Romney, who's just Bush on steroids. A vote for anyone but Obama is a vote for Romney and trickle-down economics on steroids. That's what matters.