What Does the Wahl-O-Mat Measure? Testing the Validity of the Wahl-O-Mat as a Diagnostic Tool of Political Orientation via Explorative Factor Analysis

Abstract

The Wahl-O-Mat is an online tool for political education intended to provide information about the positions of the electable parties in the run-up to an election. For this purpose, users answer a series of theses, whereupon the program calculates the agreement of their answers with those of the respective parties. This serves to improve identification with parties and increase voter turnout. To date, the factorial validity of the Wahl-O-Mat-in terms of its ability to represent the German political spectrum-has been assessed solely based on the parties' answers without including users. This study uses explorative factor analysis to close this gap and calculate the factorial validity of the Wahl-O-Mat for the Bundestag election 2021 based on the agreement between users and parties. The analysis resulted in an externally valid structure with three factors, representing a general left-right spectrum that included social and economic characteristics as well as a right-wing populist and an economically conservative dimension. Correlations with established political questionnaires regarding authoritarianism and conservatism confirmed the interpretation. The ability of the Wahl-O-Mat to represent the fundamental political spectrum in sufficient complexity speaks for its validity and for the selection process of the theses.