iSideWith Political Quiz
Questions: 15 · 10 minutes
1. A peaceful protest blocks a major road to draw attention to an unresolved injustice. Which reaction is closest to yours?
The cause may matter, but political action should remain within established channels and avoid disruption.
Limited disruption can be understandable, though organizers should quickly return to permitted forms of protest.
Significant disruption can be justified when ordinary channels have repeatedly failed.
Sustained nonviolent disruption is often necessary to force attention to entrenched injustice.
2. Housing costs have risen sharply in a growing region. Which response makes the most sense to you?
Loosen building rules and rely mainly on private construction to increase supply.
Ease building restrictions while offering limited assistance to households under pressure.
Combine private development with subsidies, tenant protections, and nonprofit housing.
Make major public investment in permanently affordable housing a central response.
3. A government is deciding how to expand access to health care. Which approach is closest to your preference?
Reduce barriers and let people choose among mostly private plans.
Offer targeted public help while keeping private coverage central.
Guarantee a public option alongside private plans.
Provide comprehensive coverage through a primarily public system.
4. When considering the cost of college or vocational education, which policy direction do you prefer?
Students should generally choose programs based on costs and expected benefits, using private financing if needed.
Government should provide means-tested grants while students retain substantial responsibility for costs.
Public institutions should charge low tuition, supported by significant public funding.
Public college and vocational education should be tuition-free and funded collectively.
5. A dangerous infectious disease is spreading across borders. How should national health authorities work with international bodies?
Make decisions independently and share only information that directly serves national needs.
Exchange data voluntarily while retaining complete control over the response.
Coordinate surveillance and supplies through international institutions while preserving some national flexibility.
Follow a strongly coordinated international response with shared data, resources, and agreed protocols.
6. Policymakers are reviewing retirement policy. Which structure seems most appropriate?
Let individuals manage most retirement saving through personal accounts.
Maintain a basic public benefit while encouraging private savings as the main source of retirement income.
Provide a substantial public foundation supplemented by workplace and personal savings.
Guarantee a strong public retirement income designed to cover ordinary living needs.
7. A long-standing public institution repeatedly produces unequal outcomes despite several minor policy changes. What should happen next?
Retain its basic structure and improve implementation within existing rules.
Run limited reforms and expand them only after clear evidence of success.
Redesign major procedures while preserving parts that still function well.
Replace the underlying structure with a substantially different model.
8. An international climate agreement would require costly near-term changes but coordinate emissions reductions across many countries. What should your country do?
Set its own policy without accepting international targets.
Cooperate informally while keeping all commitments voluntary and easily reversible.
Join if targets are transparent and major participants face comparable obligations.
Join and support enforceable shared targets, even when domestic adjustment is demanding.
9. Social expectations around family life and personal identity are changing. What role should public policy play?
Policy should generally reinforce long-established social institutions and norms.
Policy may accommodate new arrangements while continuing to recognize traditional ones as a central model.
Policy should give established and emerging ways of living equal standing.
Policy should actively revise institutions that preserve outdated or unequal expectations.
10. A trade agreement would lower barriers but limit some domestic policy flexibility. Which position is closest to yours?
Reject the agreement to preserve maximum national control over economic policy.
Pursue narrower bilateral deals that preserve most domestic discretion.
Accept the agreement if labor, environmental, and enforcement safeguards are strong.
Support broad rule-based trade cooperation as a long-term international framework.
11. A sudden refugee crisis places pressure on several neighboring countries. What responsibility should more distant nations accept?
Focus on their own borders and leave admission decisions entirely to the nearest countries.
Provide overseas aid but accept only a small number of refugees domestically.
Join a coordinated plan that combines funding with a negotiated share of resettlement.
Support a robust international system that distributes protection and resettlement obligations broadly.
12. A constitutional practice has existed for generations but now faces broad criticism. How should leaders approach it?
Preserve it unless there is overwhelming evidence that change is essential.
Make narrow adjustments that address the clearest problems without altering its foundation.
Consider substantial revision after an inclusive public review.
Be willing to replace it if a more representative structure can be created.
13. Your city needs additional revenue to repair aging infrastructure. What would you prioritize?
Keep taxes unchanged and invite private firms to fund projects that can earn revenue.
Use spending cuts, user fees, and limited private partnerships before considering taxes.
Adopt a modest, broadly shared tax increase with public oversight of the work.
Raise progressive taxes enough to fund a comprehensive public rebuilding program.
14. An allied country is threatened, and honoring an existing defense commitment could be expensive. How should leaders respond?
Avoid involvement unless the country faces a direct attack on its own territory.
Offer diplomatic and material support but avoid a binding collective response.
Work through the alliance while setting clear limits and sharing responsibilities.
Treat the collective commitment as essential and respond jointly with allies.
15. Following a widely criticized use-of-force incident, your community debates policing policy. Which response would you favor?
Strengthen training and supervision without changing the department's core responsibilities.
Add independent review and adjust selected practices while keeping the current model.
Move some responsibilities and funding to specialized community services.
Fundamentally reconstruct public-safety institutions and redistribute many existing police functions.