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12 Axes Test

Which US president are you?

Statement 1 of 360%

A free-trade area with neighbouring countries does more harm than good to American workers.

Press 1 to 5 to answer

Your answers stay in your browser.

Answer 36 short statements about choices presidents faced, or take the full 60, and see which of 24 deceased US presidents your politics are closest to, and where you part ways with each of them.

The 24 presidents in the quiz

Every president here is deceased and is scored only where the record is clear. Open a page to see the dated evidence behind each score.

24 presidents

The founding generation1789–1817

Expansion, Civil War and Reconstruction1829–1877

The Gilded Age1885–1901

The Progressive Era1901–1921

Boom, Depression and world war1923–1953

The Cold War years1953–1974

The late twentieth century1977–1993

How the president quiz works

  • Take the test

    Statements about choices presidents faced, from vetoes and war powers to tariffs, prayer and the space programme. Start with the quick 36, or take the full 60.

  • See your closest president

    Your answers are compared with each president’s documented positions on the twelve axes.

  • See where you agree and differ

    Axis by axis, with the dated action behind each president’s score. You also get your closest president in each of the four areas, and your furthest.

How the presidents are scored

The scores are editorial readings of the record, and every one can be checked.

You can skip a statement, but a result needs at least one answer on each of the twelve axes. If any axes are still unanswered, the quiz offers to take you back and fill them in.

Each president is scored on the axes where the record is clear: bills signed or vetoed, treaties, wars, orders and speeches while in office. Each score has a one-sentence reason with a date, and each page lists the sources.

An axis with no clear evidence is left out, never set to the middle. In the ranking it counts as a fixed gap of 20 points, so a president with a fuller record can rank higher, and one with a thin record cannot win just by having fewer chances to disagree. No percentage is shown, because the closest presidents often differ by a point or two.

The statements were written for this quiz and are separate from the 12 Axes Test. Each is tied to one axis and one direction. Before launch, independent AI readers who were not shown those links were asked which axis and direction each statement points to, and every statement they read differently was rewritten. Both tests end on the same twelve axes.

Being close to a president on the axes is not an endorsement of the person or of everything they did. Several presidents in the list enforced policies that harmed others, including slavery and the removal of Native Americans. A place in the list is not praise.

How matching works

Questions about the president quiz

Answer the 36 statements of the quick test, or the 60 of the full test. Your answers are scored on twelve axes and compared with each of the 24 presidents on the axes where their record is clear. The closest one comes first, followed by your closest president in government, diplomacy, the economy and society, and your furthest.

No. The president quiz has its own statements, about choices presidents faced, and shares none with the 12 Axes Test. Both are scored on the same twelve axes, so a 12 Axes Test result saved in your browser can be used here: this page offers to show your closest president without answering again.

Only deceased presidents are included, so each record is complete and nobody is scored while still in public life.

A president is included when the record supports a score on at least five of the twelve axes, from sources we can cite. Presidents who served very briefly, or left a thin record, are not in yet. More may be added as the evidence is checked.

No. Positions are scored from what each president did in their own time. A word such as “liberal” meant different things in 1830 and in 1965, which is why the quiz uses twelve axes and not party labels.

It is free and needs no account. Your answers are kept in your browser while you take the test, and the result is a short link made from your twelve scores.

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More from the 12 Axes Test

Find your president

The first statement is waiting at the top of this page. The quick test takes about 4 minutes, and nothing leaves your browser.

Start the test