Who is the most conservative Republican candidate for president? [CRUZ!]

Washington Post ^ | June 16 at 2:00 PM | Pablo Barberá

[SoConPubbie]

The Republican field is crowded, which implies that primary voters have little information about where some of the candidates stand. That is particularly the case this season, with a few relatively unknown contenders who lack legislative experience or a long history of campaign contributions that would allow researchers to precisely identify where they stand on the liberal-to-conservative political dimension.

However, one characteristic all candidates share is that they have active and popular Twitter accounts. And as I showed in an article published earlier this year in the journal Political Analysis — now freely available online as an Editors’ Choice article — it is possible to analyze the candidates’ Twitter networks to compute precise ideological scores and thus identify how conservative or liberal each of them is.

The intuition behind this method is simple: Citizens prefer to follow on Twitter those political accounts that they perceive to be ideologically close to their own positions. Tea party supporters, for example, tend to follow Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, but not Chris Christie. The same occurs on the other side of the spectrum: Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders will have a more liberal set of followers than Hillary Clinton. Relying on this assumption, I developed a statistical model that estimates simultaneously the positions of political actors and voters. And since not only politicians but also media outlets, private companies, and interest groups are active on Twitter the resulting ideological scores are comparable for different sets of accounts.

The figure below displays the ideological scores of all declared and rumored major primary candidates as of June 1

[SoConPubbie]

"If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." - Alexander Hamilton "We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all." -- President Ronald Reagan "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine 1792 "It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

[SoConPubbie]

    Ted Cruz Ping!

    If you want on/off this ping list, please let me know.
    Please beware, this is a high-volume ping list!

    CRUZ or LOSE!

[mbarker12474]

Which candidate will surround himself with the most conservative advisors, cabinet members, etc.?

We pay WAAAY too much attention to the candidate himself.

[grania]

I’m going to reserve judgement about who’s the most conservative until the debates. We’ll see who can passionately and convincingly articulate constitutional conservative values.

[SoConPubbie]

I’m going to reserve judgement about who’s the most conservative until the debates. We’ll see who can passionately and convincingly articulate constitutional conservative values.

If Cruz has not already set himself apart from the other candidates with respect to this metric, you haven't been paying attention.

[dforest]

I agree with you. Too early to make a call yet.

I was all for Cruz until the trade deal fiasco.

[oldvirginian]

Add me to the Cruz ping list please.

[Paulie]

Agreed. One man or one woman cannot do the job alone. The people they put in place in key positions is critical.

At what point is it reasonable to press them on names, or other indications of who might be part of the cabinet? Maybe they wouldn’t want to be trapped so soon in the campaign.

[DaxtonBrown]

Incredibly interesting chart. Walker, Cruz, Paul are all just slightly right OF THE CENTER of the Republican bell curve, while trump/Cristie/Bush are on the left fringe.

Dem politicians cover their entire spectrum.

Republican nomination may well go to the most conservative because there are slim pickings to the left of bell center.

[KC_Conspirator]

I agree. I really like Cruz, however the trade fiasco and his love for H-1b workers to be trucked into America by the millions from India is a huge dink on him.

[DoodleDawg]

Was there ever any doubt?

[SoConPubbie]

I agree. I really like Cruz, however the trade fiasco and his love for H-1b workers to be trucked into America by the millions from India is a huge dink on him.

1. What trade fiasco where Ted Cruz is concerned?
2. Please provide proof that the H1-B program is being systematically abused by Corporate America. Please provide proof that STEM jobs that American WOULD do are being replaced by foreigners.

[SoConPubbie]

You’ve been added to the Ted Cruz Ping list!

[SoConPubbie]

I was all for Cruz until the trade deal fiasco.

What trade deal fiasco?

How is Ted Cruz wrong for his positions on TPA?

How is Ted Cruz wrong for his positions on TPP?

[TNMOUTH]

But, he is really a RINO pretending to be a Conservative...remember? The Paulies, Walkerbots, Trumpers and Leftists told us so...

[oldvirginian]

I’m not requiring Christ like purity from a candidate.

I believe Cruz knows the constitution better than anyone currently running.
We are going to need a constitutiomalist to drag our government back to where the Founders meant us to be.

Also, the next president will appoint at least one if not more judges to the SC.
That is a huge consideration.

[tet68]

Wonder where FR would have come on that chart,
probably to the right of Ted Cruz?

[TNMOUTH]

Go by history and voting record. Anyone can say anything in the debates...

[TNMOUTH]

ok, so who is better?

[TNMOUTH]

Thanks for posting this SoCal...the Trolls are back spouting the talking points planted by a Leftist