[Sly Fox]

The compass has been referenced on here before. But in light of current circumstances, the Journal is getting some play out of the tool based on how our our views match up with McCain.

February 8, 2008, 6:00 am
Plotting Coordinates: McCain and Religious Right

Joe Mantone reports on the presidential race.

Many conservatives aren’t happy that Sen. John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, but data from a popular online tool suggests that the religious right, at least, doesn’t have much reason to worry about McCain’s views.

Called the Electoral Compass, the tool asks users whether they agree or disagree with a series of policy statements — “People should have a background check and obtain a license before they buy a gun,” for example. Based on their answers, the gauge shows where they stand on the “political landscape” and which presidential candidate comes closest to sharing their views. The political landscape is portrayed as an axis with the more economically liberal falling to the left and the more socially liberal moving to the top.

An analysis of results from the compass shows that McCain’s positions match up well with those of religious voters — a little better than Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the race on Thursday, and almost as well as former Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee. “The belief that McCain will not be able to connect with the religious right is wrong, we found,” says Andre Krouwel, a professor at the Free University in Amsterdam who helped develop the tool.

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