These are the two principal axes (eigenvectors) derived from all the survey responses and against which your answers are judged. The names in inverted commas should not be taken too seriously; they are only labels. If you want to know what each axis "means", read the list of statements which make it up. Note that the data give as many principal axes as there are statements, but all but the first two don't correspond to real systematic variation in the results.
Only the first (most important) 40 statements are shown. Note that the direction of the axes is, obviously, arbitrary, but for clarity we have picked particular directions, as noted below. The "strength" of each statement indicates how important it is in determining your position on each axis; the position is obtained by multiplying your response to each statement, ranging from -2 for "disagree strongly" to +2 for "agree strongly", by the "strength", and adding up all the values.
Note that you may not have seen exactly these statements when you took the survey; rather, in some cases you may have seen the opposite statements. You can see the complete list of statements, which shows each statement in both forms. Below we have written out each axis in the form of a list of the all the statements with which somebody on the extreme end of the axis would agree.
This axis is quite like the familiar left/right political division. It mixes economic issues -- varying from laisser faire to interventionist perspective -- and social or "moral" issues such as recommending the death penalty to punish criminals. We choose to give "the right" positive values on this axis.
| Statement | Strength |
|---|---|
| Some crimes are so serious that the only proper punishment is the death penalty. | 0.2774 |
| Services like health care, education and social security should be provided by private enterprise, not by the government. | 0.1994 |
| There are some sexual acts which are immoral, even between consenting adults. | 0.1905 |
| Aggressive foreign policies can put a stop to international terrorism. | 0.1899 |
| People who refuse to work should run the risk of going hungry. | 0.1886 |
| Aid projects abroad should always be funded by charities, not the taxpayer. | 0.1874 |
| It's more important to punish criminals than to rehabilitate them. | 0.1755 |
| The wealthy shouldn't pay a larger proportion of their income in tax than the poor. | 0.1745 |
| Everyone should stand up for the National Anthem. | 0.1739 |
| It doesn't matter whether the mix of minorities in public institutions reflects their numbers in the general population. | 0.1716 |
| National law should always override international agreements. | 0.1712 |
| Anybody who wants top-quality health care should expect to have to pay for it. | 0.1658 |
| Our sense of right and wrong comes from religious faith. | 0.1635 |
| Our nation has a glorious history. | 0.1574 |
| No woman should be allowed to have an abortion, whatever the circumstances. | 0.1558 |
| Shared religious beliefs should be an important part of our society. | 0.1538 |
| Sometimes civilians are a legitimate military target. | 0.1482 |
| There is a place for organised religion in government. | 0.1449 |
| Drivers shouldn't have to pay taxes to cover damage to the environment caused by motor transport, since that would price some people off the roads. | 0.1419 |
| Art shouldn't receive government funding. | 0.1395 |
| Overall, young people benefit from compulsory military service. | 0.1387 |
| It is acceptable to use any amount of force you choose to defend your property from criminals. | 0.1374 |
| We can't offer sanctuary to everyone who is fleeing persecution. | 0.1367 |
| Some people should not have access to the Internet. | 0.1361 |
| To protect society from drug abuse, narcotics must be banned. | 0.1356 |
| Family is more important than society. | 0.1345 |
| New roads and railways should be built by private companies, not the government. | 0.1288 |
| It is never necessary to break the law to make a legitimate point of view heard. | 0.1279 |
| It is immoral to be lazy. | 0.1270 |
| Religious faith should be based on the literal word of God. | 0.1246 |
| Overall, economic migrants are a drain on our country. | 0.1225 |
| Children should always obey their parents. | 0.1197 |
| Marijuana is a more dangerous drug than alcohol. | 0.1121 |
| Class distinctions should exist. | 0.1116 |
| The government should raise revenue by taxing consumption rather than income. | 0.1110 |
| In the right circumstances, cutting taxes can increase government revenue. | 0.1108 |
| Governments will always be more powerful than large corporations. | 0.1072 |
| Schools should not teach children anything which contradicts their parents' religious faith. | 0.1049 |
| It is never moral to break the law. | 0.1026 |
| There are some ethnic groups who can never be fully integrated into our society. | 0.1017 |
| all others | 1.1995 |
This axis is much less important than the first. It represents a combination of philosophies you could call "pragmatism", "utilitarianism" and so forth, mixing social, religious and economic issues. We have chosen to give an atheist, utilitarian perspective positive values on this axis.
| Statement | Strength |
|---|---|
| There is no such thing as an immoral sexual act between consenting adults. | 0.3168 |
| Scientists bear no moral responsibility for how their discoveries are used. | 0.2970 |
| We should make use of any technology, if it benefits us. | 0.2843 |
| There's no need to subsidise farmers if we can buy food more cheaply from abroad, even if that meant they went out of business. | 0.2518 |
| We don't need religious faith to have a sense of right and wrong. | 0.2015 |
| Shared religious belief isn't an important part of our society. | 0.2008 |
| Services like health care, education and social security should be provided by private enterprise, not by the government. | 0.1971 |
| There is no place for organised religion in government. | 0.1915 |
| It is not necessary to ban narcotics to protect society from drug abuse. | 0.1858 |
| Economic globalisation will decrease inequality. | 0.1777 |
| Abortion is acceptable in some cases. | 0.1694 |
| Sometimes civilians are a legitimate military target. | 0.1649 |
| Beneficial medical research should always go ahead, however many animal experiments would be performed | 0.1614 |
| It's more important to make the poor richer than to decrease the gap between rich and poor. | 0.1552 |
| Art shouldn't receive government funding. | 0.1531 |
| New roads and railways should be built by private companies, not the government. | 0.1519 |
| Anybody who wants top-quality health care should expect to have to pay for it. | 0.1508 |
| Religious faith needn't be based on the literal word of God. | 0.1365 |
| Laziness is not immoral. | 0.1313 |
| The government should raise revenue by taxing consumption rather than income. | 0.1207 |
| Sometimes schools should teach children things which contradict their parents' religious faith. | 0.1190 |
| It's acceptable for a businessman to bribe a foreign official to complete a sale. | 0.1181 |
| Sometimes interest rates should be raised to reduce inflation, even if doing so would cause a large number of job losses. | 0.1176 |
| The wealthy shouldn't pay a larger proportion of their income in tax than the poor. | 0.1144 |
| In the right circumstances, cutting taxes can increase government revenue. | 0.1073 |
| Sometimes children shouldn't obey their parents. | 0.1062 |
| Governments will always be more powerful than large corporations. | 0.1016 |
| We should maintain the right to free expression, even if some people use it to create trouble. | 0.1012 |
| Aid projects abroad should always be funded by charities, not the taxpayer. | 0.1001 |
| People who refuse to work should run the risk of going hungry. | 0.0960 |
| Dealing with nuisance crimes like petty vandalism makes serious crime less likely. | 0.0957 |
| Aggressive foreign policies can put a stop to international terrorism. | 0.0951 |
| It is acceptable to use any amount of force you choose to defend your property from criminals. | 0.0899 |
| Class distinctions should exist. | 0.0841 |
| Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than marijuana. | 0.0837 |
| Breaking the law is not always immoral. | 0.0806 |
| Fundamentally, the people of this country have the same character as those of our neighbours. | 0.0801 |
| Members of society needn't be familiar with the history and traditions of our culture. | 0.0772 |
| People of any ethnic group can be fully integrated into our society. | 0.0649 |
| Drug abuse is a problem primarily because of its effects on drug users, not its effects on the rest of society. | 0.0632 |
| all others | 0.7995 |
Political Survey: an open, honest version of politicalcompass.org.
Copyright © 2003 Chris Lightfoot.
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