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The ABC's Vote Compass: How did you score?

 

 

By MAMAMIA TEAM

The election is three weeks out.

That’s only another three weeks to decide as a nation, who we want to be leading the nation for the next three years.

Except for many, the decision has already been made. While there are swing voters out there still waiting to see what policies are yet to be announced by the major parties, for many people the way they are going to vote is already set in stone.

It has been decided by the policies that have already been announced. Or by the way the party has conducted itself over the past few years. Or by the political representative in their electorate. Or by the values the party seems to represent.

But when it comes down to it, the message a political party sends isn’t always the same as the policies they will enact if they are elected. And the party you think most closely represents your beliefs, might not have that much in common with you after all.

Enter: Vote Compass.

Vote Compass is an ‘educational tool’ developed by a not-for-profit group of political scientists and is currently being run on the ABC website. It’s basically a survey that compares your political beliefs, with the concrete policies of Labor, the Liberals, and the Greens.

Who will you be voting for? (The party that is, not the people. Unless you belong to one of these electorates.)

You answer a few questions – on the economy, on asylum seeker policy, on cost of living pressures – and indicate how strongly you feel about certain issues.

And then the Vote Compass tells you how your beliefs fit into the Australian political landscape – and indicate which party most closely represents what you would like to see happen in the next three years.

You get a graph, placing you at a point that represents the intersection of your economic and social views.

Clear and easy to read.

The Vote Compass also shows how much you agree with the policies of each party.

This person probably isn’t a swing voter, then.

Give it a go. You might be surprised by the direction you’re pointed in.

What were your Vote Compass results?