Reference
Polipad turns two things — real data about your state's problems, and how candidates are actually doing their jobs — into simple numbers you can compare. Here's what those numbers mean, without the jargon.
Every candidate gets a Leadership Score from 0–100. It's built from how the news describes their leadership — honesty, follow-through, how they handle a crisis — after we account for whether an outlet tends to lean for or against them. A higher score means stronger, better-supported leadership qualities.
“WATT” comes from Washington, Abraham (Lincoln), Thomas (Jefferson), and Teddy (Roosevelt) — the four leaders we used to set the top of the scale at 100.
This is a 0–10 score for what a candidate did in Congress on each problem, based on their real record — bills they've sponsored, committees they've served on, years in office. 5 is the average among candidates with a record. Leadership Score measures how the news describes them as a leader; Record Score measures their track record on a specific issue.
Only people who have served in Congress have a Record Score. For everyone else we show their Leadership Score and say plainly that there is no record — we do not estimate one. That is also why the Candidate Matcher, which ranks records against your priorities, is open only in races where at least two candidates have a record.
We track 20 real-world problems in 5 categories: cost of living, healthcare & public safety, government dysfunction, environment & infrastructure, and newer issues like the digital divide and AI. We call this list the MLCP.
For each problem, we show two numbers side by side: Problem Intensity — how severe it really is, based on hard government data — and Media Focus — how much the news is actually talking about it. When those two numbers are far apart, that's a Perception Gap — either a real crisis is being ignored, or coverage is making something sound worse than it is.
Leadership Score (WATT)
A 0–100 score of a candidate's leadership qualities — things like honesty, follow-through, and how they handle a crisis — built from how the news describes them.
Record Score
A 0–10 score of what a candidate did in Congress on each problem, based on their actual record: bills sponsored, committees served on, years in office. 5 is the average among candidates with a record. Only people who have served in Congress have one — we do not estimate it for anyone else.
MLCP
Short for "Master List of Common Problems" — our name for the 20 real-world problems we track, grouped into 5 categories.
Problem Intensity
How severe a problem really is, based on hard government data (0–100; 50 means "about the national average").
Media Focus
How much — and how urgently — the news is covering a problem.
Perception Gap
The difference between how bad a problem really is and how much attention it's getting. A big gap means either a real crisis is being ignored, or coverage is making something sound worse than it is.
Candidate Matcher
A tool where you set what matters most to you, and we show which candidates' records line up best with your priorities.
PAC
Political Action Committee — a group that raises and spends money to support candidates.
FEC
Federal Election Commission — the government agency that tracks campaign money.
Backing for their bills
How many other members of Congress co-sign the bills a candidate writes, compared with other candidates who have served. It comes from GovTrack's leadership score and measures backing, not whether someone works across party lines.