is it possible to use variables with .where in \_.js?

I am making a filtering system that gets an array of objects and filters out the selected objects on click. However, the objects to be filtered are different based on the elements chosen, so I would like to use \_.js to filter variables passed to it with \_.where

Hardcoded values work perfectly, but when replaced with replica variables, it shoots out a blank array.

```
var user_filters = user_array;
var filtered_text;
$('.allFilters li').click(function () {
    var $this = $(this); 
    var selected_filter = $this.siblings('a').text();
    selected_filter = selected_filter.toLowerCase();
    var filters = $this.attr('data-filter-value');
    filters = '"'+filters+'"';
    selected_filter = selected_filter;
    console.log(selected_filter, filters);
    user_filters = _.where(user_filters, {selected_filter: filters});
    console.log (user_filters);
});

```