STRUGGLING to decide which party to vote for on Thursday? Having trouble working out which Senedd hopeful most closely represents your interests and values?

Worry no more. Researchers, including academics from Swansea University – have launched myVoteChoice, an online tool to help you find the party and the candidate that is the best fit for you.

By entering some brief information about your constituency and voting habits, and then offering your opinion on 28 policy questions, the website tells you which party's commitments and ideals are most aligned with yours.

Matt Wall, associate professor of politics at Swansea University, is one of the people behind the new website, which he hopes will help people who are "struggling to come to grips with the vote choice that’s ahead of them, and who might decide not to vote just because they feel like it’s too much effort for too little return".

But My Vote Choice will be of equal interest to people who are more engaged with the election and may want to challenge their pre-existing notions of their own politics. Survey topics range from the decriminalisation of cannabis to Wales' use of coronavirus restrictions.

Try myVoteChoice

The advantages of the website are threefold, Dr Wall said. Firstly, it allows users to compare specific policy issues between the parties, rather than let them set the agenda by talking up their strongest policies in official election communications.

"If you just rely on the parties to communicate their positions, they’re going to communicate only those positions that favour them, so it’s hard to get a direct comparison," Dr Wall added. "We force them to position themselves on the same topics in a directly comparable way."

At the end of the survey, the website shows you where your answers have placed you politically, compared with the parties in Wales and your local candidates. You can then explore your answers, by party, to find out where you may agree or disagree with them.

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Secondly, the website allows people to focus on political issues rather than the "horse race" approach to elections that Dr Wall said most media "tend to favour".

"Think about Keir Starmer [being kicked out of] the pub the other day," he added. "That’ll generate a lot more attention than substantive policy, which can be a bit dry."

The third and final advantage is all about time and effort, Dr Wall said.

"Imagine you wanted to take all the leaflets you’ve had from all your candidates, and then you’d have to circle who’s doing what – it’s probably too much to ask for people," he said. "In a sense, we’ve done that so you don’t have to."

A word of caution: the website is not trying to tell you who you should vote for. And Dr Wall admitted people's voting habits is often more complicated than simply deciding on policies – politicians' personalities and tactical voting often come into play.

myVoteChoice should instead be seen as "an introductory session" to the upcoming election. 

"This is an entry way into thinking about differences [between parties and their candidates], rather than the start and the finish," Dr Wall said. "It should be a first step rather than a last step."

This article originally appeared on our sister site The National.