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Comparison of Candidate-Matching Engines (preview)

Here are some notes for my upcoming analysis on Presidential Candidate Comparison Shopping. To be followed by a whole lotta discussion this week...

	Q U E S T I O N S	A N S W E R S / Q	C O M P L E T E ?	D I S P L A Y	C A N D I D A T E S	P O S I T I O N S	L E A R N M O R E	W E I G H T I N G	EXTRA
price grabber.com	26	2 to 6 (3.2 per)	option to skip	0% to 100%	active only	by issue, who agreed	afterwards, Wikipedia	No
usatoday.com	11	3 to 6 (4.9 per)	answer all	visual, bar graph	show all, dropped = grayed out	matrix view!	no	afterwards, w/ sliders	source for positions, running-totals
vajoe.com	24	2 or 3 (yes, no, ?)	can leave blank	0% to 100%	active + recently active?	no	beforehand, on-site	beforehand, 1 to 3	"composite candidate"
minnesota .publicradio.org	17	2 to 7 (3.0 per)	can leave blank	1 to 10	active + recently active?	by candidate, agreed or disagreed	no?	beforehand, 1 to 3	source for positions,
glassbooth.org	14	2 (yes, no)	option to skip	0% to 100%	active + option for dropouts	by candidate, agreed or disagreed, how much	beforehand, Wikipedia	beforehand, 1 to 5	multiple sources!
abcnews.com	11	3 to 6 (4.9 per)	answer all	visual, pictures of top 3	dropouts are still in the top 3, but faded	matrix, but only for the top 3	no!	no!	no!
electoral compass.com	36	2 (yes, no)	option to skip	cartesian	shows all, "X" for the dropouts	by candidate, agreed or disagreed, how much	no	beforehand, 1 to 5	sources for positions
gotoquiz.com	17	2 to 4 (2.9 per)	can leave blank	0% to 100%	shows all, no difference in active and dropout	no	no	beforehand, 1 to 5
washington post.com	25	1x per candidate	can skip ahead	1 to 25 points	active + recently active?	by candidate	no	beforehand, w/ slider	running-totals, but you can turn it on/off
select smart.com	N/A... I did not appreciate the ads between the survey and the answer. The only interesting part was the inclusion of candidates not in the race. (Al Gore, Michael Bloomberg, Newt Gingrich, Stephen Colbert...)

Comparison of Candidate-Matching Engines (preview) (0)
Posted by Sean O'Rourke on February 10, 2008 at 5:36 PM
Archived at Vertical Search

Comparison Shopping for Political Candidates - Overview

Political candidate matching engines have been around since at least 2000. From a comparison "shopping" perspective, how good are these sites in 2008?

Below are ten comparison sites for the '08 U.S. Presidential Election, plus my one-line summary. Results are sorted in order of usefulness, in my opinion.

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PriceGrabber "CandidateMatch"

> http://www.pricegrabber.com

Perhaps the most compelling presentation of results, which (coincidence?) were also the most in line with my expectations.

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USA Today "Candidate Match Game"

> http://www.usatoday.com

USA Today has the most interesting, interactive interface... plus at the end, you can toggle the weight to give each issue.

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VA Joe "Candidate Match Game"

> http://www.vajoe.com

The format is much too shallow, but the aggregating of results into a "composite candidate" is an interesting idea.

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MN Public Radio "Select A Candidate"

> http://minnesota.publicradio.org

Answers range from binary to potpourri... who decides which topics are black-&-white and which are open to nuance?

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Glassbooth "Election 2008"

> http://www.glassbooth.org

Interestingly, you start by distributing your interest to issues, so you only have to answer the most relevant questions.

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ABC News "Match-o-Matic"

> http://abcnews.go.com

ABC takes USAToday's wonderfully transparent tool and wraps it in a black box, from which no insight can escape.

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Electoral Compass "Election 2008"

> http://www.electoralcompass.com

The questions did not seem professional, bordering on Springer-like, but the Cartesian summary is cute.

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GoToQuiz "Pick Your 2008 Candidate"

> http://www.gotoquiz.com

Typical of online quizzes. You get numbers, but no analysis. Post to MySpace. Yay.

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Washington Post "Choose Your Candidate"

> http://www.washingtonpost.com

Seriously, you must choose a Democratic edition or a Republican edition? Lame.

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Select Smart "Presidential Candidate Selector"

> http://www.selectsmart.com

How can I take this seriously with all the cheesy flashing advertisements? N/A

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Mainly, I wanted to post this before Super Tuesday, so you can try the tools while there is a selection of candidates.

Later, I want to look at this from a comparison engine perspective. It is interesting to see so many non-comparison sites and their different approaches to comparison shopping. You have news sites, quiz sites, .org sites, hobbyist sites... they bring fresh perspectives. I think they also highlight a few comparison techniques that are clearly better than others.

More later. For now, have fun. Compare early, compare often!

p.s. - if you have tried multiple sites, which one was the most useful?
(I'm not interested in the politics, just the comparison functionality...)

Comparison Shopping for Political Candidates - Overview (0)
Posted by Sean O'Rourke on February 4, 2008 at 3:39 PM
Archived at Vertical Search