Online Tool Matches Voters with Ideal Presidential Candidate

The selection of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as Republican candidate Mitt Romney's running mate has put presidential race back on the front page across the country.

There are likely a wide variety of issues that concern readers in Bergen County and elsewhere when it comes to who will end up in the White House.

But do you really know which presidential candidate best matches your stance on those issues? 

A new website launched earlier this year to help voters match up with their ideal candidate, and it's quickly gaining popularity through social media channels. In fact, according to iSideWith.com's homepage, more than a million people have taken the free quiz to determine their ideal candidate since it launched in March.

The quiz covers everything from social issues to foreign policy and answers can be fine tuned: You can choose general or more detailed responses, and a scale allows you to set the level of importance for each issue. Your responses are then analyzed to determine your ideal candidate, complete with a breakdown of your response matches.

Among the people who took the quiz in New Jersey, their positions matched President Barack Obama's 53 percent of the time — more than any other candidate. Surprisingly, New Jersey voters views matched Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson's positions 51 percent of the time, followed by Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 46 percent and GOP candidate Ron Paul at 41 percent.

And what about Romney? Just 35 percent of New Jersey poll-takes have the same views as he does on the key issues.

The site was started in March 2012 "by two friends with two very different views of politics," according to the site's about page. 

"Our goal is to save users time by providing an accurate and updated breakdown of which candidates they side with on the issues. We aim to educate voters and to boost voter turnout this election season," the page reads.

Seems to be a pretty handy tool, but does it work? You tell us. Take the free quiz on iSideWith.com and let us know what you think. Is the candidate it matched with you the candidate you plan to vote for?

Would you like to be featured in a future edition of Local Faces? Contact editor Joseph M. Gerace at Joseph.Gerace@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox every morning, sign up for our daily newsletter.