12Axes is a free political quiz hosted on politicaltests.github.io. It was published in February 2021 as a rework of 9Axes, which was itself a fork of 8values, and it scores you on twelve separate axes grouped into four categories. You answer each statement with one of seven buttons, from Strongly Agree through Neutral/Unsure to Strongly Disagree. At the end you get a percentage split for every axis and a Closest Match ideology.
This page explains what each axis measures, how the scores and the Closest Match are actually calculated, and where 12Axes and Votely differ. The details come from the quiz's own source code, which is public on GitHub.
The 12 axes
The axes are grouped into Governmental, Diplomatic, Economic and Societal categories. The results page gives each one a one-word heading, shown in brackets below.
Governmental
- Federal vs Unitary (Structure). Federal means you want power held by states, regions and local governments. Unitary means you want a strong national government that sets the rules everywhere.
- Democratic vs Autocratic (Representation). Democratic means you want leaders chosen by and answerable to voters. Autocratic means you prefer leaders who hold power through other established means and steer the country from above.
- Security vs Freedom (Power). Security means you want the government to put public safety first. Freedom means you want it to stay out of people's lives and protect their privacy.
Diplomatic
- Internationalism vs Nationalism (Intervention). Internationalism means you favour cooperation between countries and international bodies. Nationalism means you want your country to avoid alliances and keep its distance from international law.
- Militarist vs Pacifist (Diplomacy). Militarist means you back a strong military and are willing to use it. Pacifist means you prefer diplomacy and lower military spending.
- Assimilationist vs Multiculturalist (Immigration). Assimilationist means you expect immigrants to adopt the national culture. Multiculturalist means you are comfortable with many cultures living side by side.
Economic
- Collectivize vs Privatize (Economy). Collectivize means you want wealth and economic power spread more equally, usually through some form of socialism. Privatize means you favour private ownership and accept economic hierarchy.
- Planned vs Laissez-Faire (Control). Planned means you want the economy directed by a plan. Laissez-Faire means you want markets to decide what gets produced and who gets it.
- Protectionism vs Globalism (Trade). Protectionism means you favour tariffs, local production and national self-sufficiency. Globalism means you favour free trade and a global market.
Societal
- Secular vs Religious (Religion). Secular means you doubt or reject the idea of a higher power. Religious means you believe in one, and positions in between fall in the middle.
- Progressive vs Traditional (Culture). Progressive means you welcome social change, including wider acceptance of groups such as LGBT people. Traditional means you want society, and sometimes the law, to uphold conservative moral norms.
- Acceleration vs Bioconservative (Technology). Acceleration means you want faster scientific and technological progress. Bioconservative means you think technology is making things worse and want to slow it or turn back.
How the scoring works
The quiz draws on a bank of 288 statements, 24 for each axis. Each statement is written from one side of its axis at one of four strengths. The short version asks five statements per axis, three from one side and two from the other, and picks each one at random from the three written at that strength. Two people taking it on the same day will usually see different questions. The long version asks every statement in the bank.
Each answer moves that axis's score toward the side the statement was written from, or away from it if you disagree. Strongly Agree and Strongly Disagree count double, Agree and Disagree count once, the Partially answers count half, and Neutral/Unsure counts nothing. The strength a statement was written at does not change how far it moves you. Each result is then shown as a percentage split, such as 70% Federal and 30% Unitary, and the two sides always add up to 100.
What Closest Match actually uses
The Closest Match line at the bottom of the results is the part people most often ask about, and it works differently from what the twelve bars suggest. The quiz takes four of your scores, Economy, Power, Trade and Culture, and measures how far they are from preset coordinates for 38 ideologies. The nearest one becomes your match.
The other eight axes play no part in the label. Two people can differ completely on religion, immigration, the military and technology and still be given the same Closest Match. If your match feels wrong, read your twelve bars instead, because they carry most of the information the quiz collected.
12Axes and Votely side by side
| Feature | 12Axes | Votely |
|---|---|---|
| Scores you get | 12 axes, each a percentage split | 3 core axes, plus 6 sub-axes specific to your region of the map |
| How answers are given | 7 buttons from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree | A slider from 0 to 100% on every statement |
| Question count | 60 (short) or 288 (long) | 12 (short) or 60 (long) |
| Ideology result | Closest of 38, based on 4 of the 12 scores | 1 of 81, based on every answer in the long quiz |
| Visual result | Bars with an image for each pole | A 3D cube you can rotate, plus a written result |
| Price | Free and open source | Free, with an optional paid report |
| Sign-up | None | None |
Where 12Axes is the better pick
12Axes gives everyone a separate reading on federalism, militarism, immigration, trade, religion and technology. Votely asks about topics like these only where they divide the traditions in your region of the map, so a centrist and an anarchist are asked different follow-up questions. Because 12Axes treats every taker the same way, your twelve bars can be compared directly with anyone else's.
Its source code is public, so you can check exactly how each statement is scored, which is how this page was written. The long version is also one of the most thorough free political tests available if you have half an hour to spare.
Where Votely is the better pick
Votely is built around the label. The long quiz first places you on three core axes, then asks 24 more questions tuned to the region of the map you landed in, and uses all of it to name one of 81 ideologies. Because every answer is a slider, a mild agreement and a firm one count differently.
Each of the 81 results has its own page covering the tradition's history, key thinkers and main criticisms, and many also show how other people with the same result answered. If what you want is a name for your politics and something to read about it, that is where Votely does more than 12Axes. Taking both is reasonable, since the two results together say more than either one alone.