I came across a couple of different political association surveys over the last few weeks that I want to share. I believe it is healthy and helpful to have a general sense of where one’s political beliefs lie and what notable figures may share similar beliefs or convictions. I found two such questionnaires that help me determine my political alignment, and I hope you, dear reader, try them as well. Links to each questionnaire and a brief description are linked below, and my own results from each are found at the end.
Caveats
These surveys are not the end-all-be-all of determining your political association, morals, or ethics, but they can be helpful in giving a ballpark estimate of the neighborhood where your politics and morals currently lie. While these organizations do their best to remove any type of bias or favorability, it is important to recognize it is impossible to remove all type of implicit bias from a question in this setting. As such, the questions found within these surveys may feel as if they lead you towards a certain answer. While this is not ideal, that should not deter us from participation as a general “temperature check” for betterment of ourselves. Answer honestly and truthfully, and if stuck on a certain question, choose the option that matches closest to your beliefs. I recommend constant re-assessment and re-evaluation of your own political, moral, and ethical stances through self-reflection, conversations with trusted friends and family, and by the use of tools such as the two listed below.
Pew Research 2026 Political Typology Survey
The Pew Research Center released their own Political Typology Survey updated for the 2026 calendar year, and it takes a simplistic and straightforward “Left-vs-Right” approach to the political spectrum. This 24-question survey is surprisingly quick and centers politics with relation to the United States. The base of the survey and their nine different classifications of political alignment formed from a national survey of 10,000 U.S. adults, and may be help introduce the participant to a more modern labels for classic political concepts.
FindMyPolitics Political Compass Test
My preferred and recommended test in this arena comes from the website FindMyPolitics with a more in-depth and configurable survey where you can choose how deep you wish to go on a US-political or globally-political scale. Each version has three different lengths of test questions: 30, 50, and 80. I chose to go the most in-depth with 80 questions with the Global Political Compass test version. I prefer this test because not only does it include a useful analysis page of results to break down each of the five concentrations involved in determining alignment, but the results graph your political alignment in relation to other notable political figures and nations through history’s past and present. The graph is two-dimensional with alignment on the horizontal access representing left or right alignment on economic policy and the vertical access representing social policy (Libertarian to Authoritarian).
My Results
Pew Research Center
The results from each were expected for me, although I did gain minor insights new to me from each. For the Pew Research Typology Survey determined to align me with the camp of Leftward Progressives given my beliefs in public services for the people run by the government of the people, my deep conviction to protect our marginalized siblings within the Black, Indigenous, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ communities, and my stances on legal protections for universal healthcare and other human rights.
FindMyPolitics
I enjoyed reading my own FindMyPolitics results which assigned me on the Progressive Left. This test gave me much more valuable insight into the nuances and variety of political thought and provided many political and thought-leaders of which I did not previously know. For example, according to the survey I am closest aligned and share about 97% of my social, political, and economic beliefs with Rosa Luxemburg whom I never head of until the results reached my eyes. I look forward to reading some of her work in the near future and learning more about her opposition to Leninist authoritarianism.
