Update: Tinder released the results of the first week of its Swipe The Vote campaign on March 25.
If you're not sure which candidate to support in the 2016 presidential election, it's time to download Tinder. While dating sites have expanded in new and interesting ways in the past few years (Bumble introduced a way to make friends earlier this month), Tinder's foray into politics is a matchmaking first.
The app has joined forces with Rock the Vote, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to getting people to the polls, to help you figure out which candidate has values that align with your own.
In the Swipe the Vote experience on Tinder, you'll be asked to swipe left or right on 10 of the most hot-button issues from this campaign cycle. So, for example, you can swipe your stance on everything from keeping same-sex marriage legal to drilling for oil. After you've swiped through the issues, it will match you with one of the candidates. Yes, that means you can Tinder match with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, or even Donald Trump.
After you've been matched, you'll also have the option to tap a button to register to vote.
While it might be strange to find a voting experience within a dating app, Tinder's easy left or right swipe system is a simple way to figure out which issues matter to you and which candidate feels the same way.
While Swipe the Vote isn't dating related, if you aren't already a Tinder user, you will have to download the app and set up a profile to try it out. Swipe the Vote shows up as a potential match card while you swipe through date options. But you can immediately delete the app after finding your presidential match if you're not looking to find a romantic match.
One good thing if you choose to participate: You won't come across any disturbing photos of the candidates posing with tigers.
Update: The results are in. Tinder users who participated in the first week of Swipe the Vote aligned most strongly with Bernie Sanders, while fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton came in a close second and Republican Ted Cruz came in third. There was a sizable gap between the Democrat and Republican candidates: While Cruz and Clinton got 37.8% and 37.6% of the vote, respectively, Cruz received 14.3%. Donald Trump earned just 8.1% of the vote.
Tinder has said that its voter experience will remain live through election season. Stay tuned for updated polling info.
This article originally published March 22, 2016.
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