The chart shown above is the result of a survey filled out by 86 members of the ST-Riders email list during November of 2003. Why did we volunteer to do this and what does it mean?

As to why the survey was initiated, a little history is in order. If someone outside of the ST community were to drop in on our group's email conversations, they would get the distinct impression that our political makeup was far right wing conservative. That had certainly been my impression. I had the feeling however that this might not be the case because most of the political commentary seemed to come from a relative few. What about the rest of us,... the silent majority? Enter the survey. During a particularly blistering political exchange in early November a fellow lister posted a message about a fascinating political website called The Political Compass that noted " ... that the labels of liberal and conservative are outmoded and too linear.". This website contained a survey that resolved that linearity by giving results that took into account one's view on both economics and authority. The graph at the top of this page displays the political scores of 86 of our members.

 So what does it all mean? The important thing that I get from the survey result is that we (the 86 of us that responded) are most assuredly not of the same mind where it concerns politics. Some of the most frequent and strident political posters are out on the extreme ends away from the graph's origin. Most of the rest of us, the "Silent Majority" if you will, are in between with a slight "liberal" bias to the southwest quadrant. So, as a group, we're definitely not all extreme right wing conservatives as one might have assumed from reading the occasional political post on the list. The average of all the scores was -0.91 and -1.56 which places it very near the graph's origin. It would appear that like the rest of America, we have a broad range of political beliefs.

The numbers along with the names of those who consented to have themselves identified alongside their numbers are given below. If you would like to see the graph along with other data showing where world leaders and US politicians * might * be, download the following spreadsheet or click to open it up: stoc_survey.xls

Below are the numbers and names:

 ** n/a = name not available for publication. Lister did not email me with permission to publish.

@ Back to Mick's Motorcycle Main Page

@ Home