POLITICAL IDEOLOGY QUESTIONNAIRE

EQUALITY VERSUS FREEDOM SCALE

1. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: gun control.
a. The founding fathers intended that the right of any citizen to keep and bear arms should
not be abridged by Congress.
b. The founding fathers intended that only citizens who are members of a “well-regulated
militia” should have an unlimited right to keep and bear arms.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

2. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: social security.
a. The federal government should privatize the social security program.
b. The federal government should keep but correct the social security program so that the
current generation of contributors will receive their benefits upon reaching retirement
age.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

3. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: health care.
a. The free market will provide the best health care system.
b. Government regulations are necessary to ensure that health care is not priced beyond
the reach of most people.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

4. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: public election finance.
a. There should be no limits on the amount of money that anyone can contribute to the
candidate of their choice.
b. Big money has too much influence in politics, therefore we need stronger legal limits on
contributions to candidates for public office.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

5. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: funding for the arts.
a. Any art that is truly deserving will find plenty of financial support from private
individuals and organizations.
b. The free market is aimed at the lowest common denominator, therefore government
funding is often necessary to adequately support worthwhile art.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

6. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: tuition vouchers for private schools.
a. Parents who wish to send their children to private schools should be eligible for publicly
funded tuition vouchers.
b. Public tax money should not be spent on private schools.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

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7. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: environmental regulations.
a. On balance, environmental regulations cause more harm than good by improperly
restricting private property rights.
b. The public’s right to preserve the natural environment requires significant government
regulations.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

8. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: consumer-product safety.
a. Competition in the free market is the best protection against unsafe products.
b. Without government regulations, unsafe food and other consumer products will harm
unsuspecting consumers.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

9. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: affirmative action.
a. Preferential treatment of women or minorities amounts to unconstitutional reverse
discrimination.
b. Government programs to “level the playing field” are necessary to compensate women
and minorities for the lingering effects of past discrimination.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

10. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: minimum-wage laws.
a. The free market is the best mechanism for determining fair wages.
b. Without minimum-wage laws, too many employers would not offer workers a living
wage.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

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 ORDER VERSUS FREEDOM SCALE

11. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: government censorship of the media.
a. Government should not censor radio, television, the print media, or the Internet.
b. Clearly obscene and pornographic material is harmful and immoral and should not
allowed in the mass media.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

12. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: adult homosexuality.
a. Sex between consenting adults should not be regulated or outlawed by government.
b. Local, state, and federal governments should each be free to impose any restrictions on
homosexuality that the majority of voters support.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

13. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: marijuana.
a. The possession, use, and sale of small amounts of marijuana should be legal.
b. Local, state, and federal governments should each be free to impose any restrictions on
marijuana that the majority of voters support.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

14. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: immigration.
a. We have too many limits on legal immigration and are turning away too many qualified
applicants.
b. We should impose greater limits on legal immigration into this country.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

15. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: national defense spending.
a. We should spend significantly less than we do now on national defense.
b. We should spend significantly more than we do now on national defense.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

16. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: government–sponsored religious exercises in
public schools.
a. Public school teachers and administrators should not lead students in prayer or other
religious devotional exercises as part of the school day.
b. Any government–sponsored religious exercises in public schools that the majority of
voters support should be legal.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

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17. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: foreign trade policy.
a. The federal government should negotiate free trade agreements with all foreign trading
partners in order to give U.S. consumers more products at lower prices and to expand
U.S. economic opportunities in the global economy.
b. The federal government should impose tariffs to protect U.S. agriculture and industry
from foreign competition.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

18. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: rights of those suspected or accused of crime.
a. Innocent persons need legal protections against over–zealous law–enforcement officers.
b. Law–enforcement officers are hand–cuffed by too many legal restrictions on how they
fight crime.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

19. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: flag burning.
a. Burning the U.S. flag is a form of symbolic political speech that should be a legally
protected right for citizens in the United States.
b. Burning the U.S. flag should be against the law.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

20. Which of the following best fits your attitudes towards: abortion.
a. Access to a legal abortion should be available to any female in the U.S.
b. Local, state, and federal governments should each be free to impose any restrictions on
abortion that the majority of voters support.
c. Depends, maybe, not sure, don’t know, or need more information.

ON EACH SCALE, YOUR SCORE CAN BE ANYWHERE FROM 0 TO 100 PERCENT.

TO FIND YOUR SCORE ON EACH SCALE, FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

• For the Equality v. Freedom scale (questions 1-10) :

– add up the number of “a” answers and multiply times 10,
– add up the number of “c” answers and multiply times 5,
– add those two numbers,
– circle that number on the horizontal axis.

• For the Order v. Freedom scale (questions 11-20) :

– add up the number of “a” answers and multiply times 10,
– add up the number of “c” answers and multiply times 5,
– add those two numbers,
– circle that number on the vertical axis.

• Your political ideology is represented by where these two grid lines intersect.
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Order v. Freedom (Q11 to Q20)
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Equalityv.Freedom(Q1toQ10)