Political compass test

How the political compass works

A single left-right line hides a lot. Someone can want low taxes and also liberal drug laws, or a big welfare state and strict immigration rules. So this test, like most political scientists, uses two axes:

• Economic (left to right): how much the state should tax, spend, own and regulate, versus leaving outcomes to markets.
• Social (liberty to authority): how much personal freedom people should have, versus order, tradition and state power.

The idea goes back to Hans Eysenck's The Psychology of Politics (1954) and David Nolan's 1969 chart. Similar two-axis maps are used in research and voter guides around the world.

How we keep it neutral

• Each axis has 16 statements: 8 worded from the left or liberty side and 8 from the right or authority side, so agreeing with everything lands you near the centre.
• Statements are short claims people actually argue about, without loaded words like "greedy" or "woke".
• No party names, no politicians and no country-specific issues, so the result works anywhere.
• Ideology descriptions say what each one stands for in the terms its own supporters would use.

Reading your result

Scores run from -10 to +10 on each axis. Within 1.5 of zero counts as centre. The six themes show where your views pull in different directions, which is common: Pew Research Center's typology studies find many people hold a mix of left and right positions.

This test is our own and is not affiliated with The Political Compass (politicalcompass.org) or any party or campaign.

Questions people ask

Is this political compass test biased?

We balanced it: every axis has as many statements worded from each side, and none names a party or politician. Two axes still simplify politics, so treat the result as a map, not a label.

What does authoritarian left or libertarian right mean?

Authoritarian left combines economic equality and state control of the economy with a strong state. Libertarian right combines free markets with maximum personal freedom. The other two quadrants are authoritarian right and libertarian left.

Where do most people land?

Results cluster around the centre, and most people hold some views from each side. Very extreme scores are uncommon.