Opinion: An election quiz-a-thon that’s not aimed at political junkies

During my seven years as a reporter in the nation’s capital, I came to love and hate election campaigns in equal measure. I love the policy debates they tee up for voters, but I hate how those issues get lost in the cacophony of personal attacks and deliberate deceptions.

Such ads win out in part because candidates and the two major political parties don’t want to sink down into the weeds of governing, where nothing is simple and every choice comes with trade-offs. For instance, do you want sturdier bridges? Then where will the money come from? Is the tax code too complex? Then which deductions, credits, exemptions and preferences do we abandon in order to simplify it?

But leaders of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a centrist think tank in Washington, D.C., believe that talking about the issues will make people more engaged in campaigns -- and more likely to vote. To that end, the center has teamed up with Answers.com to offer a series of quizzes about government and the issues that divide the two parties.

The Answers Quiz-a-thon: Election Edition will offer 20 daily quizzes on an assortment of major policy issues, including entitlement reform, climate change and Washington dysfunction. The 10-question, multiple-choice quizzes are narrated by figures well known in Washington (such as former Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine and former Agriculture Secretary and Motion Picture Assn. chief Dan Glickman) or Hollywood (such as actors Fran Drescher and Noah Wyle).

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s president, Jason Grumet, said the point was to “show constructively how the parties differ” on “consequential issues.” That way, he said, quiz takers will be able to see the potential effect that shifting a few seats from one party to another could have. The quizzes will also be supplemented by videos and interviews related to the day’s topic.

Ordinarily, people go to Answers to ask questions, not answer them. Nevertheless, David Karandish, chief executive of Answers Corp., sees his site as a natural platform for ginning up voter interest and turnout.

“One hundred twenty-seven million eligible U.S. citizens didn’t vote in the last midterm election in 2010,” Karandish said in a statement. “We want to educate and engage Americans for their critical role as voters, and we’re launching the quiz-a-thon to do just that. By using the significant reach of the Answers platform, the keen political knowledge of experts from the Bipartisan Policy Center, and the sheer star power of our celebrity hosts, we believe we can empower millions of Americans to vote on November 4.”

The two quizzes so far -- one on how power is divided in Washington, the other on Obamacare -- haven’t been push polls in disguise. Instead, they’ve been substantive and reasonably devoid of ideological leanings. In the latter case, for example, the quiz tests people’s knowledge of what the healthcare law does, what Republicans don’t like about it and what Democrats do.

I can’t say that the hosts so far have added much to the process. They give an introduction and then read aloud each question, although by the time they’re finished reading, the quiz taker has probably picked an answer. But perhaps the presence of a Drescher or a Wyle will expand the number of quiz takers, which would be a good thing.

One other incentive to take the quizzes: the sponsors are giving away prizes, including an iPad Air and a trip to Washington, D.C. With any luck, the government will not be shut down while the winner is visiting.

OK, so maybe a daily quiz isn’t as stimulating to policy wonks and political junkies as a close statewide race for governor or U.S. senator. But we in California have neither this year. And besides, Answers and the Bipartisan Policy Center are targeting the masses, not Washington insiders and the chattering classes.

A new quiz is slated to go live on Answers.com at 4 p.m. every day until Election Day, which is when?

a) Nov. 4.

b) The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

c) Not soon enough.

d) All of the above.

Follow Healey’s intermittent Twitter feed: @jcahealey