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December 4, 2012
The vote rocker
CLIFTON VAN DER LINDEN
Picking who to vote for at election time is a bit like choosing between cupcake flavours. You rule out the ones that are too wacky or just plain unpalatable, and from the remainder you pick the one that looks prettiest. It’s probably not quite what the ancient Greeks had in mind, but then they never had to contend with robocalls, attack ads and the 24-hour news cycle. Helping voters make an informed choice based on actual policy positions (as opposed to, you know, hair or tie preferences) is the passion of U of T political scientist Clifton van der Linden. He’s the brains behind a nifty online tool called Vote Compass that asks voters a series of questions about their views on things, like government spending, health care reform and foreign policy, and shows how they compare with those of the candidates. Intriguing maps and charts help illustrate the options. “People generally have an idea about how they feel about certain leaders, but what gets shorter shrift are public policy issues,” says van der Linden, who adds that sometimes people get a shock if they find out the candidate they like actually disagrees with them on most things. Vote Compass was used by more than 1.2 million Canadians in last year’s federal election and was featured on the Wall Street Journal’s website during the recent U.S. presidential race.