Swipe Left Or Right On The Issues: Tinder Matches Users Up With Political Candidates


The popular dating app Tinder has added a feature that matches you with presidential candidates.

The feature, dubbed “Swipe the Vote,” was added yesterday as a means to get U.S. Tinder users more involved in politics. It works by presenting you with ten different political questions. Instead of swiping right or left to gauge someone’s attractiveness, you swipe to vote yes or no to the questions. In the end, you are given the candidate that matches the most with your political viewpoints. Tapping on the questions brings up different facts about them for further consideration.

This addition comes after multiple users were banned from Tinder for using the platform to campaign for Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Tinder CEO Sean Rad said that the feature is an adaptation to how users engaged with the app:

“The credit for this goes to our users. There were a lot of unique ways people were using the app to campaign and advocate.”

Rad also said that the app is meant to serve as a means of personal connection, and not just the hookups it is famous for:

“There’s so much noise out there it’s hard to find which candidate matches your own views. It’s about connecting you with people, even including a presidential candidate.”

According to BuzzFeed, here is the complete list of political questions users are asked:

  • Increase funding for education?
  • Keep same-sex marriage legal?
  • Protect a woman’s right to choose?
  • Drill for oil and gas in the U.S.?
  • Increase the minimum wage?
  • Abolish the death penalty?
  • Repeal “Obamacare”?
  • Legalize marijuana?
  • Decrease military spending?
  • Stricter laws for online privacy?

Tinder created the feature after collaborating with Rock the Vote, an independent, nonprofit political organization. Rock the Vote helped the app determine which political hot-buttons were pivotal in differentiating the candidates.

Rad said that Tinder will store users’ anonymous match data, but will not sell it to third-party companies. If anything, the results will simply be published for those interested in seeing them.

After matching a user with a candidate, Tinder provides a tool to help users register to vote. Rad suggested that Tinder will be used for more social activism in the future:

“We should all at least be aware of the candidates and their views, and hopefully that will help people get out there and vote. This isn’t a strategy, but I think you will see different ways where we’re going to use Tinder to spark new kinds of relationships.”

Featured image by takao goto, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.