Thoughts on the political spectrum

Earlier this week, I was called by a political polling company to ask about my opinion about the candidates in the upcoming special election for the US Senate.  It's been years since I've been polled and my first thought is that it was interesting that they called my on my business cell phone rather than my personal cell phone.

Image source: https://www.arlingtonva.us/home/web/survey/page63192.aspx

I'm pretty sure that it was from Markey's people since the guy was a little too enthusiastic about my answers to the question about what I don't like about Gomez.  Nevertheless, as a social science researcher, it's always an interesting experience to be the subject rather than the investigator.

There was one question that really did get me to thinking, though.  It's a question that I've seen a million times in both real research surveys and political polls:  Would you describe yourself as liberal or conservative?  The scale is: very conservative, moderately conservative, neither conservative nor liberal, moderately liberal, and very liberal.

Let's leave aside the legitimate question about whether political preferences range on a single dimensional continuum.  I do not have any problem recognizing that I am liberal.  The question for me was whether I considered myself moderately liberal or very liberal.  My instinct was to say moderately liberal because I consider myself a reasonable person.  I see very liberal people as inflexible and dogmatic as those who are very conservative.

Image source: http://www.mix-pics.net/img/13848/i-think-i-am-right-and-you-are-wrong

In the 20 seconds it took for me to answer the question, a number of thoughts came into my head.  Prominent among them is that I'm pretty sure that someone who does not share my positions on a many social or economic issues would consider me very liberal.  I am sure that someone who I would label as very conservative sees themselves as reasonable as I see myself.

From a survey design perspective, this is a real issue with the validity of both the question and the scale.  How we would recognize "moderate" when we see it.  And would we recognize ourselves if/when we deviate from it?  This is a question for all of us, regardless of the labels we apply to ourselves.

Image source: http://frabz.com/2nza

Of course I had to answer the question and I reminded myself that he is asking about how I see myself, not how others view my positions.  Which gets to the most important lesson of the day: it's not worth overthinking a political polling question.