Rate the 2016 Candidates from most conservative to most liberal IYO

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

You can add third parties too, in your opinion who is the most conservative to most liberal? Based on American standards of conservatism/liberalism, from their policy positions (social, economic, foreign policy, etc.)

For me:

Most conservative: Ted Cruz
Bobby Jindal
Rand Paul
Ben Carson
Mike Huckabee
Rick Santorum
Jim Gilmore
Carly Fiorina
Gary Johnson (if he runs)
Marco Rubio
Jeb Bush
John Kasich
Lindsey Graham
Donald Trump
George Pataki
Hillary Clinton
Martin O'Malley
Bernie Sanders
Most liberal: Jill Stein

[Kingpoleon]

Ted Cruz
Bobby Jindal
Ben Carson
Rick Santorum
Mike Huckabee
Jim Gilmore
Rand Paul
Carly Fiorina
Gary Johnson
Donald Trump
Marco Rubio
Jeb Bush
Lindsey Graham
Jim Webb
John Kasich
George Pataki
Rocky Anderson
Hillary Clinton
Martin O'Malley
Lincoln Chafee
Bernie Sanders
Jill Stein

[Clark Kent]

Ted Cruz
Bobby Jindal
Ben Carson
Rick Santorum
Mike Huckabee
Rand Paul
Gary Johnson
Donald Trump
Jeb Bush
Lindsey Graham
Jim Webb
John Kasich
George Pataki
Rocky Anderson
Hillary Clinton
Martin O'Malley
Lincoln Chafee
Bernie Sanders
Jill Stein

And Rubio?




Ted Cruz
Bobby Jindal
Marco Rubio
Jeb Bush
John Kasich
Rand Paul
Ben Carson
Carly Fiorina
Mike Huckabee
Chris Christie
Rick Santorum
Lindsey Graham
George Pataki
Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump
Martin O'Malley
Bernie Sanders

[/]

Huckabee
Cruz
Carson
Jindal

Santorum




Gilmore
Rubio
Paul

Fiorina
Trump

Graham
Kasich
Bush

Christie
Pataki









Clinton
O'Malley


Sanders

[Crumpets]

Cruz
Huckabee
Carson
Santorum
Paul
Trump
Jindal
Rubio
Gilmore
Kasich
Bush
Fiorina
Christie
Pataki
Clinton
O'Malley
Sanders

[Higgs]

Cruz
Huckabee
Carson
Santorum
Paul
Trump
Jindal
Rubio
Gilmore
Kasich
Bush
Fiorina
Christie
Pataki
Clinton
O'Malley
Sanders

Huckabee more conservative than Jindal, how?

[Maxwell]

Cruz
Jindal
Perry (would've gone here)

Santorum
Walker (would've gone here)
Huckabee
Carson

Fiorina

Bush
Gilmore ()
Christie
Rubio
Graham
Kasich
Pataki

Paul



TRUMP



- The Center -



Webb (would've gone here)

Chafee (woudl've gone here)

Biden (would've gone here)
Clinton
O'Malley
Sanders


Beyond a couple of figures like Trump and maybe Paul and Webb, I can't really see much difference in these candidates beyond tone and maybe some flowery language toward a core constituency group of the other party. Most of the Republicans were, at one time or another, severely conservative, and remain so in a general context but have just been passed on by the field. I'd say the most conservative two are obviously Bobby Jindal and Ted Cruz, who have the least baggage of saying things that violate conservative orthodoxy. Oddly enough, the average for the Republicans has moved to the left since Trumps entrance, and not just because he's obviously the candidate closest to the center, two of the Republicans most conservative candidates (Scott Walker and Rick Perry) were forced out of the race due to their poor performance under the spotlight of Trump.

The next little group is the hard socons. Santorum is a Bush Republican when it comes down to it, and holds most of those principles to be true. That's why I consider him the most right wing of this group. Carson, shockingly enough, is the least - partially because I take his statements on foreign policy, which lean a little toward the Paul camp more than the Graham camp, at face value. Huckabee has made moves to be on the Cruz camp more and more lately, but I find his previous record in Arkansas a bit too moderate to group him over there, as that would be a solid indicator of his governance.

Fiorina is truly a scary woman and I probably should've ranked her further on the conservative side, but as a CEO, I'm sure she doesn't really care about those social issues. She merely knows where her bread is buttered. Still, more conservative, I believe, than many here are giving her credit for - she literally said she would shoot Russian planes out of the sky.

There are few to no differences between fairly orthodox conservatives in Jim Gilmore, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and George Pataki. Pataki is something of a throwback in a lot of ways, and his gay marriage issue is why he's at the front of that pack in terms of being close to the center, but he's economically very right wing. Jeb Bush is the most conservative of this group because that's the way he's run most of his career, and even now he's the only establishment candidate who was caught talking about Kim Davis in a favorable light. Marco Rubio ran for office as a Tea Partier and has largely voted that way. John Kasich is running for office on cutting spending in 2015 while proclaiming to be a Jon Huntsman level moderate (who wasn't even a moderate!). Lindsey Graham is a bloody war queen, he never met a foreign policy boondoggle he didn't fall in love with. Jim Gilmore ran the RNC so I have my assumptions about how conservative he is. And Chris Christie has all of the war loving that Lindsey Graham has with none of the gay rumors.

Paul doesn't follow conservative orthodoxy the most, though his monetary policy is so right wing it nearly breaks the bank. Still, despite his major hiccups, he is certainly the candidate closest to the center in terms of pure breaking of conservative issues line by line.

Or at least, he would be, if it weren't for the glorious Donald Trump. What kind of Republican frontrunner talks about how much he loves imminent domain, never quite denying that he loves single payer, talks about how much he hates Super PACs, and purposes raising taxes on hedge fund managers? The Donald, that's who! The Donald throws red meat to the base a lot - his hardline views on immigration, his love of guns, his love of the military, and his shouting at China () - but those that see the big picture see a man who has a lot of positions on both sides of the political spectrum. He's the closest to the center of any of the candidates running for President currently, and that includes Hillary Clinton.

[Mercenary]

Is foreign interventionism liberal or conservative?

[Ljube]

Is foreign interventionism liberal or conservative?

I'd say conservative.

[ScottieF]

Cruz
Carson
Jindal
Santorum
Huckabee
Rubio
Paul
Fiorina
Bush
Gilmore
Trump
Graham
Kasich
Pataki
Christie
Clinton
O'Malley
Sanders

[bagelman]

Is foreign interventionism liberal or conservative?

"We must use force to keep America safe from external threats" - Conservative interventionist

"America has a leading role in keeping the world safe from extremism and poverty" - Liberal interventionist

"..I don't want to run the world. The Constitution doesn't give me the authority to run the world. We ought to mind our own business, is what we need to do. With all this spending overseas, wasted money..." - Conservative isolationist


And of course everyone already knows what a liberal isolationist is.

It's somewhat easier to be a conservative than a liberal if you're a war hawk.

[eric82oslo]

Most conservative: Trump, followed by Jindal, Huckabee, Santorum and Fiorina, then followed by Cruz

Most in between: Carson, Graham & Rand Paul

Most liberal: Kasich & Pataki, followed by Christie and Bush, then followed by Rubio

[eric82oslo]

It's somewhat easier to be a conservative than a liberal if you're a war hawk.

Hillary is not a war Hawk, it just deteriorates the debate inmensely by claiming that. Sure, she's less isolationist than Obama, and much more so than Sanders and Rand Paul, both of whom would like to see USA shut out of the rest of the world, like was it an electric circuit. But except for Rand Paul, every single one of the 14 (17) Republican presidential candidates this year are much more war hawks than Hillary will ever be.

[bagelman]

It's somewhat easier to be a conservative than a liberal if you're a war hawk.

Hillary is not a war Hawk, it just deteriorates the debate inmensely by claiming that. Sure, she's less isolationist than Obama, and much more so than Sanders and Rand Paul, both of whom would like to see USA shut out of the rest of the world, like was it an electric circuit. But except for Rand Paul, every single one of the 14 (17) Republican presidential candidates this year are much more war hawks than Hillary will ever be.

You seem to believe I was implying something that I wasn't. I do think Hillary is less of a dove than Sanders, obviously, but my comment didn't have anything to do with her. What I was really trying to illustrate is that, right now, while interventionism vs. isolationism is not exactly on the same scale as conservatism vs. liberalism, the GOP electorate is more inclined to be hawkish than the Dem electorate. Jim Webb's comment about personally killing a communist would have been met with at least some applause at a GOP debate but was dead in the water at the Democratic debate.

[ElectionsGuy]

Ted Cruz
Rand Paul
Bobby Jindal
Carly Fiorina
Ben Carson
Marco Rubio
Jeb Bush
Rick Santorum
Mike Huckabee
Chris Christie
John Kasich
Donald Trump
George Pataki
Lindsey Graham

Hillary Clinton
Martin O'Malley
Bernie Sanders

Don't know where to place Gilmore.

[I support Sanders]

Ted Cruz
Bobby Jindal
Ben Carson
Scott Walker
Rick Perry
Marco Rubio
Rand Paul
Rick Santorum
Mike Huckabee
Carly Fiorina
Jeb Bush
Chris Christie
Jim Gilmore
Lindsey Graham
George Pataki
John Kasich
Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton
Jim Webb
Lincoln Chafee
Martin O'Malley
Larry Lessig
Bernie Sanders

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Cruz
Carson
Jindal
Rubio
Gilmore
Santorum
Fiorina
Huckabee
Bush
Paul
Christie
Kasich
Trump
Graham
Pataki

Clinton
O'Malley
Sanders

[Sir Mohamed]

Ted Cruz
Bobby Jindal
Ben Carson
Rick Santorum
Mike Huckabee
Jim Gilmore
Rand Paul
Carly Fiorina
Marco Rubio
Jeb Bush
Chris Christie
Lindsey Graham
Donald Trump
John Kasich
George Patacki


Hillary Clinton
Martin O'Malley
Bernie Sanders

[Clark Kent]

Are we still prtending that Trump is in any way a conservative? He's probably well to the left of Clinton, in fact.

[weixiaobao]

Hmm interesting trend, Paul supporters rated him on the farther end of conservative as opposed to the general consensus.  (And I am sure likewise if you ask this same question for Trump supporters on Breighbart you would see this effect).

Also, everyone else except eric82oslo, had Trump as one of the most liberal GOP candidates.  And if you ask Trump supporters they would rank him among the more conservative candidates (that is my theory anyhow).  Though I must said, the Trump supporters crowd tend to be really conservatives and much more conservatives than their idol.

Outside of this forum, the generic liberals' views probably more align with eric82oslo with a caricature of Trump in their head.

Now looking at the answers, I wouldn't mind Pataki.  Too bad, he can't win the GOP nomination in a million years.  So for now, I will stick with Clinton vs Trump if that is possible.

Cruz on the other hand, is general consensus to be among the most conservative.

I don't know too much about Jindal.

[Crumpets]

Cruz
Huckabee
Carson
Santorum
Paul
Trump
Jindal
Rubio
Gilmore
Kasich
Bush
Fiorina
Christie
Pataki
Clinton
O'Malley
Sanders

Huckabee more conservative than Jindal, how?

I feel like they probably have pretty similar personal views and politics, but Huckabee seems much more reluctant to compromise or even discuss some issues, and I think he would probably govern to the right of Jindal over all. I may be wrong.

[Sir Mohamed]

Are we still prtending that Trump is in any way a conservative? He's probably well to the left of Clinton, in fact.

Depends on the issues. On Immigration he's far right; socially he's a moderate. He's certainly no liberal or progressive, maybe a conservative-leaning centrist.

[zs4321]

Cruz
Santorum
Huckabee
Carson
Jindal
Gilmore
Fiorina
Rubio
Paul
Christie
Trump
Graham
Bush
Kasich
Pataki
Clinton
O'Malley
Sanders

[/]

Most conservative: Trump, followed by Jindal, Huckabee, Santorum and Fiorina, then followed by Cruz

Most in between: Carson, Graham & Rand Paul

Most liberal: Kasich & Pataki, followed by Christie and Bush, then followed by Rubio

Are we still prtending that Trump is in any way a conservative? He's probably well to the left of Clinton, in fact.

LOL

[Asian Nazi]

Paul
Cruz
Carson
Jindal
Rubio
Fiorina
Bush
Kasich
Christie
Huckabee
Santorum
Pataki
Sanders
O'Malley
Clinton
Trump