This election season, we have seen Obama bashed for his record and Romney flip-flop his stances more than Chicago weather changes. In all the media frenzy and stance switching, it has become more difficult for voters to decipher what each candidate really supports.
Are you an undecided voter looking for information about which candidate aligns with your political views? iSideWith.com has a complex algorithm you can use to state your opinions on key issues, and you’ll find which candidate’s platform best fits your political views.
iSideWith, started in March 2012 by friends Taylor Peck and Nick Boutelier, aims to save voters time choosing who to vote for this election by providing an accurate and continuously updated analysis of which candidates they side with on specific issues.
Peck and Boutelier, who say they are “not affiliated with any investors, shareholders, advertisers, political party or interest group,” run the site purely on donations from its visitors, displaying a PayPal and credit card Donate button throughout.
What makes iSideWith special? Unlike other political quizzes and sites, iSideWith allows quiz takers to give in depth insight into their specific stances by clicking “choose another stance” for higher precision beyond the standard yes and no responses. Even better, the site does not just compare a user’s responses against the major candidates, Barack and Obama – iSideWith includes analyses on the other presidential candidates, Gary Johnson, Virgil Goode, Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson.
How does it work? Users answer a series of questions and “weigh” which issues are the most or least important to them. Issues range from hot topics, such as Healthcare, taxes, abortion, same sex marriage and the war in Afghanistan, to minor issues, like support of the theory of Evolution, NASA funding and global warming. After completing the questionnaire, the website’s algorithm compares the users answers to the views of the six 2012 presidential candidates and provides a ranking, by percentage, of which candidate and party they agree with the most.
From there, iSideWith uses two scores: the Passion and Conviction scores. These give users a comprehensive analysis of why they side with each particular candidate and how sure they can be of that candidates alignment with their stance. The Passion Score is based on how often a candidate discusses an issue and whether the issue is a top priority in their platform. A candidate with a high passion score of five on an issue will match a voter much more strongly than a candidate with a low passion score of one on the same issue. Conviction scores are meant to bust candidates known to flip-flop on key issues, like Romney. While candidates say one thing, their voting history and actions say another, thus the Conviction score matches what they candidate says with what he or she has done or said in the past, using the same five-to-one scale as the Passion score.
Alicia Pattillo, second-year Broadcast Journalism graduate student at DePaul, took the election quiz, which showed she sided with Green Party candidate Jill Stein on most issues with a percentage of 78. The quiz also showed Pattillo sided strongly with Obama with 76 percent and with issues important to Democrats with 91 percent.
When asked if she was shocked by her results, Pattillo said no.
“I know I am a Democrat and I believe in equality, in terms of issues such as education, immigration and foreign policy,” Pattillo said.
Pattillo said although she sided mostly with Stein, she still supports Obama.
“It’s not that I wouldn’t vote for Jill Stein. It wouldn’t be a wasted vote, because every vote counts. I’m just committed to Barack Obama,” Pattillo said.
While iSideWith is not a new idea – political quizzes have been released in the past few election cycles – it is unique. It offers voters extensive examinations of each presidential candidate, along with sources to educate themselves on key issues and a social-media angle that allows users to share their results with their friends.
Choosing the next President of the United States of America is way too important to do blindly.
Who do you side with?