DES MOINES — With just one week until the Iowa Caucuses, it’s crunch time for undecided voters. A week may not seem like a whole lot of time, but fret not; there are several ways to get informed easily, thoroughly and, perhaps most importantly, quickly.
One of the top options for that is the “I Side With…” quiz, an in-depth online survey that asks your opinion on multitudes of different political issues. There are a ton of questions, but you only have to answer the questions you want to answer.
Once you’re done with the quiz and your answers are submitted, your results are calculated based on how the candidates feel about the issues you’ve addressed. Then, you’re shown a list of all of the remaining candidates with a percentage next to them, which signifies how much each candidate aligns with your views. Again, no questions are “required,” but the more questions you answer, the more precise your matches to the candidates will be.
There are many undecided voters throughout the Des Moines area who are turning to tools like this one. One resident says the “I Side With…” quiz was especially helpful; it not only gave him a better idea of who he’d like to support, but it also opened his mind on issues that he may not have thought about before.
“It helps you recognize things that you might not have seen about yourself, and it opens an opportunity for an internal dialogue,” West Des Moines native London Allen said. “An internal philosophical switch sometimes of what might make sense to you and what doesn’t. It challenges thought.”
The quiz has helped more than 53 million voters match with candidates, according to its website. Those voters are spread all across the country, from the giant cities on the coasts to the smallest towns right here in Iowa.
If you’d like to try out the “I Side With..” quiz for yourself, you can find the link for it here.