Question Answer VoteMatch results

Below are the summary results of our VoteMatch 20-question political quiz, with analysis of the responses in terms of Donald Trump's & Hillary Clinton's stances from the 2016 elections. This data summarizes about 1,580 VoteMatch quiz responses in the period 2013 through 2018. Click on the links below for excerpts on each topic, or click for a summary of Hillary Clinton's VoteMatch answers and Donald Trump's VoteMatch answers, with headlines evidencing how we concluded their answer to each question. Click on the "analysis" link to see background and details about the question.





Abortion is a Woman's Unrestricted Right Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: 51% agree with Clinton's pro-choice stance, and only 36% with Trump’s pro-life stance. This issue has the fewest people answering "no opinion" of any VoteMatch issue (only 13%), which reflects the fact that it is overwhelmingly the issue with the most voter interest (as indicated by our viewership statistics consistently since 1999). Compared to 2008, the 2012 response set has become more polarized (both "strong" answers increased in percentage) and more shifted towards "support". Accordingly, after the 2012 election, we "strengthened" the question text by adding the term "unrestricted" -- which reduced the number of "support" answers from 65% in 2012 to 51% in 2016. Click for all candidates' headlines on abortion or for background information.

Legally require hiring women & minorities Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: Clinton supports Affirmative Action on the basis of past discrimination; Trump opposes Affirmative Access. Note that our question specifies REQUIREMENT: 50% support that, and 30% oppose. We added the term "LEGALLY" after the 2012 election to attempt to skew more towards "oppose" (our goal is 50/50 support/oppose). In 2012, without the term "LEGALLY", 51% supported, and 33% opposed. (This changed from 39% in 2008 and 35% support in 2004, the largest shift for any question which had identical wording then). Click for all candidates' headlines on Jobs or for background information.

Comfortable with same-sex marriage Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Keep God in the public sphere Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: 51% support (agreeing with Republicans); 28% oppose (agreeing with Democrats): It's difficult to decode Clinton's stances on religious issues, because she's a member of the "religious left," a group that no longer exists in American polity. Trump is less personally religious than Clinton, but accepts the support of the "religious right" (which very much exists in America today). Under this topic, Trump mostly talks about issues of "political incorrectness" like saying "Merry Xmas". Hillary makes no attempt to reinstate the religious left, and instead focuses on church-vs-state issues. Click for all candidates' headlines on Principles and Values.

Fight EPA regulatory over-reach Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Make voter registration easier Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: 50% favor, and only 26% oppose, voting reform. This indicates a public reaction against "voter suppression" and gerrymandering, and perhaps for campaign finance reform. (We refocused this question away from "Campaign Finance Reform" after the 2012 election and the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision which removed many restrictions on campaign spending.) Viewers' responses favors Clinton's stance for more open voting compared to Trump’s stance for more "voter security". Click for all candidates' headlines on Voting Reform, or for background information.

Stricter punishment reduces crime Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: Trump supports mandatory sentencing, which matches voter preference: 52% to 29% opposed. Clinton prefers prevention and rehabilitation Support for mandatory sentencing, the death penalty, and "Three Strikes" (our previous question wordings) have increased since 2008 but stayed constant after 2012. The "Black Lives Matter" movement, which arose in the run-up to the 2016 election, might be credited with slowing support for this topic. Click for all candidates' headlines on Crime or for background information.

Absolute Right To Gun Ownership Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: The Gun Control issue is second in the Big Issues in terms of viewer interest, behind Abortion -- all other issues are very distantly behind. Voters support Trump on the issue: 42% agree with Trump’s pro-gun rights stance, while 33% agree with Clinton's pro-registration stance. HOWEVER, support has been weakening: in the 2012 election cycle, we registered 55% support to 37% oppose --perhaps due to the focus on mass shootings since then. This question exemplifies the "yes-bias": people prefer answering "yes" to any question; if we correct for that bias, this question is now opposed by the majority (but was not in 2012 or earlier). Our wording on this question has never changed, since 1999 -- but America's view is evolving. Click for all candidates' headlines on Gun_Control or for background information.

Expand ObamaCare Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: This topic is a leader in lopsided support: 56% in favor, versus only 24% opposing (slightly less favorable than 2012 and even less than in 2008). We've changed the wording of this question from generic "health coverage" to "ObamaCare" for 2016, but the support ratio has remained steady. Accordingly, Trump (and many Repblicans) have been promoting various spending programs that mimic aspects of ObamaCare without calling it ObamaCare (a term repugnant to Trump). But federal health care is generally seen as a Democratic issue, favoring Clinton's fervent stance of incrementally reaching universal coverage. Click for all candidates' headlines on Health Care or for background information.

Vouchers for school choice Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: 27% agree with Clinton's stance favoring public school choice and Common Core, and 47% agree with Trump’s stance to fund vouchers for private schools. Education is primarily a non-federal issue, with 93% of funding and most decisions occuring at the state and local levels. But education is solidly third in voter interest (behind abortion and guns, as measured by our viewership statistics), so the candidates are obligated to make their views known despite the limited power of the presidency on this issue. Click for all candidates' headlines on School Choice or for background information.

Prioritize green energy Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Marijuana is a gateway drug Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: 53% support the Drug War, while 28% oppose it. This has not been much of a campaign issue but Trump & Clinton disagree: Clinton would treat drugs with treatment, while Trump would implement stronger penalties. Perhaps America has evolved due to marijuana legalization efforts, but Trump has evolved in the opposite direction: favoring decriminalization in the 1990s but taking a harder line as a candidate. Click for all candidates' headlines on Drugs or for background information.

Stimulus better than market-led recovery Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: This is a new question for 2016; it is a defining difference between Republicans and Democrats during and after President Obama's "stimulus package" of corporate bailouts and jobs packages. 51% of viewers agree with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on supporting the federal stimulus; 21% of viewers agree with the Republicans and Donald Trump opposing the federal stimulus. Republicans recognize that viewers did support a federal response to the "Great Recession", so they pivot to their own definition of "stimulus": cutting taxes (question below) and reducing regulations (question a few above). Click for all candidates' headlines on Budget and Economy or for background information.

Higher taxes on the wealthy Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: 28% agree with Hillary Clinton that the the wealthy should pay a greater share; 51% agree with Trump on cutting taxes on the wealthy. This is an enormous shift from before the 2016 election cycle, when our question was worded "Make taxes more progressive": 53% agreed with a more progressive tax structure and only 32% opposed. This is the largest shift of any question on our quiz; we attribute it to (1) the harsher wording ("progressive" sounds nice; "tax the wealthy" does not); and (2) Republican success at convincing the public that cutting taxes will create jobs and economic growth. Click for all candidates' headlines on Tax Reform or for background information.

Pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: Our viewers are evenly split on immigration: 39% support a pathway to citizenship and 39% oppose. This question has been evenly split for many years, but in 2016 the "neutral" answer was 22%; in 2012 it was 8%; and in 2008 it was 21%. In other words, Americans decided their immigration stance in the 2012 election, but become undecided again by 2016. Keep in mind that for all questions the bias is towards answering "yes", so an even split means, in general, that opposition is stronger than support -- and Donald Trump capitalized on that. Trump calls for tougher enforcement and a borer wall; Clinton calls for earned citizenship plus comprehensive reforms. Click for all candidates' headlines on Immigration or for background information.

Privatize Social Security Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: Only 18% agree with Clinton's stance to keep Social Security within the federal government, while 58% agree with Trump’s stance of privatization (the highest support score of any question). Support of privatization stood at 45%-36% in 2012, down from its 2004 score of 56%-29%. Social Security until recently was called the "Third Rail" of politics -- touch it and you die -- but clearly the voters are ready for a change. This question is perhaps the most skewed by our demographics -- our respondents are all Internet users, and hence are younger and more affluent than the general population. Click for all candidates' headlines on Social Security or for background information.

Support and Expand Free Trade Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: Free trade has a consensus in favor: 47% to only 29% opposed. Trump & Clinton agree in restricting free trade but for different reasons, with Trump focusing on nationalist & protectionist grounds, and Clinton insisting on labor and environmental standards in free trade agreements. Click for all candidates' headlines on Free Trade or for background information.

Expand the military Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Support American Exceptionalism Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: This is a new question for the 2016 election cycle; 35% support "American exceptionalism" while 33% oppose. But "No Opinion" is the single most frequent response, at 31%. That indicates that the population is unclear on the meaning of "American exceptionalism" -- because Republicans and Democrats mean very different things by it. Clinton supports multilateralism, internationalism, and accepting refugees. Trump supports unilateralism, nationalism, and barring refugees. Click for all candidates' headlines on Foreign Policy or for background information.

Avoid foreign entanglements Strongly Support

Support

No Opinion

Oppose

Strongly Oppose

Analysis: 43% support exiting wars abroad; 27% oppose exiting. This is a big drop from the 2012 election cycle (where our wording was more specific, "US out of Iraq & Afghanistan") where 68% favored ending our ongoing wars and 15% opposed doing so. The new wording (which quotes President George Washington) ignores specific wars, rather than focusing on North Korea or Syria or Iran -- but the vague wording garners less support. Both Clinton and Trump disagree with the mahjoroty, but for different reasons. Clinton would intervene militarily in Syria, while Trump would militarily enforce denuclearization in North Korea and in Iran. Click for all candidates' headlines on War + Peace or for background information.