Choose Your Candidate

USA Today has a little "game" where you answer issue questions, and it compares your answers to Presidential candidates. Based on how many times you match with a candidate, and your weighting of issues, it gives you which candidate you agree most with. It was a fun and interesting little thing. I've been thinking about something like this for a little while, and it was nice to find.

Before listing my results, let me give a few caveats. You only match if your answer was exactly the same as the candidate (for example: I said on an Iraq question "No, we shouldn't have gone in because there were no WMD"...I didn't match with candidates who simply stated "No, we shouldn't have gone in" and "Yes, we should be there"...obviously, I'm closer to one of those opposed to the other). There are only 11 questions and some issues only have 1 question. It's not perfect, but it's still interesting.

Without further ado, here are my top 3 and bottom 3.

Issues: Iraq, Health Care, Immigration, Same-sex marriage, Tax reform, Global warming, and Experience

My weighting - More important: Tax reform, Iraq, Health care, Immigration
-Less important (or no difference): Global warming, same-sex marriage, experience

Top 3 (in order)
1. Chris Dodd (Sen. Conn - D) - I matched eight of 11 questions with Dodd. Mismatches occurred over global warming (mine: alternative fuel, his: carbon emission tax), same-sex marriage (mine: marriage is ok, his: not marriage but civil unions), and Iraq troops (mine: withdraw most starting immediately, his: remove from Iraq, but keep in region).

2. Barack Obama (Sen. Ill. - D) - I matched on 6 of 11 questions. Major differences in global warming, health care, and details of Iraq (not ultimate goal, though).

3. John Edwards (Fmr Sen NC - D) - I also matched 6 of 11 here. Differences in global warming, immigration, and funding Iraq war.

Bottom 3 (in order)
3. Ron Paul (Rep. TX - R) - Outside of his views on Iraq, I disagree with him. Foreign policy could be good, but socially I don't agree with him.

2. Duncan Hunter (Rep. Cal. - R) - Alternative fuel sources for global warming is the only area I agree with him.

1. Fred Thompson (Fmr. Sen Ten. - R) - Aside from experience (which I don't value too much), I didn't hit a single issue with Thompson.

Interesting things of note, all Democrats outranked any Republican. Highest ranking Republicans for me were John McCain and Sam Brownback. Many issues weren't included that can influence who I would support, but it was still nice to see candidates positions broken down without all the rhetoric you hear in speeches.

Take the quiz/play the game, and tell me your top candidates.