Definition
Plain language
A popular online quiz that places your political views on a two-axis map.
As stated in the literature
A widely circulated self-report instrument mapping responses onto economic and social axes; used as one of three instruments in LLM political-bias audits, with a documented asymmetry in its right- versus left-coded items.
Why it matters: It's a common instrument for probing political leanings in models, though its uneven wording can itself skew the results.
For example, you answer a series of agree-or-disagree statements and the quiz plots you somewhere on a left-right, libertarian-authoritarian grid.
Heard on the show
“The Political Compass Test — the famous one your friends posted screenshots of in twenty-twenty.”Episode 015 — The Audit Number Isn't What You Think: Sycophancy and the Case Against Single-Prompt Bias Tests