First edition, early 2027 (preview)
The State of the Politically Homeless
How many people hold libertarian positions, how few of them use the word, and what changed this year. Figures from the quiz now, and from a national survey when it reports, each labeled with what it measures.
Among Americans
A national survey of American adults, commissioned by Advocates for Self-Government and fielded in 2026.
hold libertarian positions. Results to be published with the first edition of this report.
The quiz counts people who chose to take it. The survey asks a representative sample of the country the same kind of questions. When its results are in, this section prints the national figure beside the quiz figure, each labeled with what it measures, and the survey's method is published with it.
What will appear here
The share of American adults who hold libertarian positions, the share who use the word, and the share who hold the positions without the word, from the survey. Until then the site reports only what the quiz measures, and says so on every page.
Among quiz takers
71,691 people completed the World's Smallest Political Quiz from July 1 to September 8, 2026, on the current version of the quiz.
scored libertarian.
These are people who chose to take a political quiz. They arrive from booths, classrooms, search and social media, and they are a self-selected sample, not a representative one. The figure describes them, and the survey above will describe the country. The two are printed together so nobody mistakes one for the other.
The gap
The quiz asks what people call themselves before showing them a result. Put the answer next to the score and everyone falls into one of three groups: both, the positions without the word, the word without the positions. The middle group is the politically homeless, and it is the largest.
| Scored as | Say libertarian | Say something else | Did not answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libertarian | 2,015 | 12,892 | 5,940 |
| Moderate | 524 | 16,793 | 7,136 |
| Progressive | 170 | 10,690 | 4,495 |
| Conservative | 235 | 5,848 | 2,243 |
| Authoritarian | 18 | 2,053 | 833 |
The survey's version of this table is pending its results. When it lands, the two tables sit side by side: the gap among people who sought the quiz out, and the gap among Americans who were asked.
What people who score libertarian call themselves instead, in order: progressive, other, conservative, moderate. The word is not being rejected. It is not being reached for.
What moved
28 entries on the ledger, April 2024 to July 2026: real gains in freedom, each sourced, with 10 marked as partial.
| Issue | Wins | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal justice | 3 | Colorado, Washington, Kansas |
| Drug policy | 1 | Federal |
| End-of-life autonomy | 3 | New York, Illinois, Delaware |
| Food freedom | 4 | Colorado, Oklahoma, Indiana, Michigan |
| Free speech | 2 | Federal |
| Housing | 9 | North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, California, Texas, Massachusetts |
| Occupational licensing | 1 | Louisiana |
| Parental authority | 1 | Texas |
| Right to make and repair | 2 | Texas, Washington |
| Surveillance | 2 | Federal, Washington |
By how they arrived: 23 passed by a legislature, 3 won in court, 1 done by executive action, 1 a local ordinance. No ballot measures and no repealed regulations made the ledger, which may say more about what we tracked than about what happened, and is noted for the next pass.
Three are featured: New York legalizes medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults; California legalizes mid-rise apartments near transit, preempting local single-family-only zoning; Supreme Court rules unanimously against government coercion of private speech. The full ledger.
Method
Quiz figures: people who completed the quiz, with bots removed, scored on the quiz's standard 121-cell grid, quiz version 6.3.0. The series on this site starts July 1, 2026, the first full month on the current version. The state pages use the last window with ZIP codes, January to October 2024, on quiz version 5.0.0, which showed 19% libertarian nationally against 29% on the current version; four of the ten statements changed between them, so that difference is the instrument as much as the people, and the two windows are never compared as a trend.
Survey figures: a national survey of American adults commissioned by Advocates for Self-Government, to be published with its method in the first edition. The two instruments are printed side by side and never merged; see the method page. Nothing on this site identifies a person.