Political Ideology and Bias

Political ideology is a key component of politics and observing political behaviour. There are political ideology quizzes all over the internet that help people figure out where they fall on the political spectrum when looking at many different issues. One quiz in particular is found at http://www.politicalcompass.org/index. This is the quiz that I often send my friends to if they don’t know what their ideology is. This is because it goes beyond the simple left-right wing ideologies but also the libertarian-authoritarian ideologies placing you on a vertical and horizontal axis. However, upon viewing it more closely I found that, like most other things, this quiz is very biased. This quiz in particular has a somewhat left leaning bias which ultimately places people more left than they should be. An example of a left leaning question is the very first one which says “If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations” to which one can answer strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. The wording of this question favours the left wing response of the economy should favour humanity because it makes the right wing response seem inhumane. Having such a bias in the political ideology quiz is dangerous because it skews what people actually believe and could change how someone acts politically. If someone who does not know much about politics takes that quiz and actually has similar views to the Conservative Party but the quiz places their views with the Liberal Party, the person is likely to vote Liberal in the election which, if done enough, could alter the outcome of the election.