it can't be!

Something you need to know about me before you read the rest of this post. Politics bores me to tears. This is mostly because I don't believe there to be political solutions for the hot button issues out there; especially considering the noisome, shrill quality of our current political climate. I feel reaffirmed in this view almost every time I hear a political story in the news and the ensuing, super-intelligent sniping from people on both sides of it. I come away mistrusting each of the opposing views and feeling as if we haven't heard the truth, but more importantly, that we've forgotten how to be decent human beings to each other. This isn't always the case, but almost.

Okay, so with that out of the way... Andrew Cohut of the Pew Research Center was on All Things Considered yesterday speaking about the center's political typology. Now, this was a political story so I almost ignored it, but it was also a statistical research story so I involuntarily began to salivate, owing to my long ago career as an advertising research professional (if that term can be applied to one such as myself).

So not only did I listen to the story, but I also followed the link that NPR provided so that I could take the survey myself. I answered the questions honestly as any good former statistician must, all the while figuring I would show up as some sort of independent, the kind that almost nobody likes, which is what I am.

I came up as a liberal.

My conservative friends are now saying, "Knew it!" and my liberal friends are saying "I got a large oil painting of that happenin' " Actually both are probably, instead of making those comments, doing something productive right now; which is to say they are not reading this post.

I almost cried. I began whispering the prayer of the heart, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner." And then you know what I did? I hit the back button on the browser, changed one answer on the form and recalculated my results. This next attempt brought the label DISAFFECTED.

"Ahhh," I sighed, relieved.

You can take the quiz and play with the psychological implications of toying with your answers here. Have fun!