How to Choose a Political Party Affiliation

Rock the vote in the U.S.A.!

People affiliate themselves with different political parties for different reasons. They may want to help a candidate gain election to public office or draw awareness to an important social issue. Whatever your personal reasons for choosing to participate in the political process, you may need to find a political party that closely matches your beliefs, values, and priorities. Follow these steps to help you choose a political party in the U.S.A.

Instructions

1. Find out where you fall on the political spectrum of beliefs. Do you know for sure if you are more authoritarian or libertarian? Are you a leftist or a right-winger? What are your economic and social values? Do you consider yourself a liberal, independent, conservative, or a moderate? You may be a capitalist, socialist, statist, or communist and not even know it yet. Do you think you would be labeled as a fascist or anarchist?

2. Try some fun online political quizzes for free to help you decide where you fall on the political scale. In the Resources section below, I've added some entertaining political test links for you to try. While these are for entertainment purposes only and may or may not be accurate, they could help you determine some general information about your political leanings.

3. Visit the websites of the major political parties (Democratic Party and Republican Party). How do their platforms compare to your own political ideologies and philosophies? Take the time to consider major and minor third parties as well, such as the Libertarian Party, Constitution Party, Socialist Party U.S.A., and the Green Party. You may find that several of the party platforms closely align to your beliefs. Visit the educational links below to find out more about each party's platform, so that you can participate in the American political process.

Tips & Warnings

• You may want to come back to this article multiple times to visit the political articles and tests referenced below.

Resources

• WikiHow: How to Choose Your Political Party
• Political Compass Test
• SelectSmart Political Party Selector Quiz
• Mahalo: How to Choose a Political Party
• World's Smallest Political Quiz: The Original Internet Political Quiz
• Directory of U.S. Political Parties (with Platforms)
• Wikipedia: Political Parties in the U.S.