CivicAlign · Pillars 4–6
Methodology for every number
Each number on the page has one entry here: where it comes from, what is done to the
source, how it is calculated, which recorded versions it depends on, and what it does not tell you.
The page cannot show a number that has no entry.
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Rules that apply to every number
- Every calculation uses Voteview’s
nominate_dim1 in its own units (−1 to +1). The main page shows it as a display position, (score + 1) × 50, on a line from 0 (liberal side) to 100 (conservative side): a position only, not a score, with the raw value always available underneath (see “How the page presents these numbers”).
- State public estimates stay on the American Ideology Project’s own survey scale. They are never placed on the senator scale without a validated bridge, and none exists, so no senator-to-state distance is calculated.
- A national public centre has not been defined, so no Senate-to-public or committee-to-public gap is calculated.
- The population-weighted average is the main Pillar 5 comparison. Medians are a secondary comparison, shown in details only. Both methods are candidates, not settled definitions.
- Committee membership dates are the dates CivicAlign observed them, not official appointment dates.
- Numbers describe voting records, seats and populations. They are not judgments of any person, and they say nothing about why a bill passed or failed.
Result record e0f5b6d94c8f1341d6923afaee982e1e24e1b742c5730f854e426141bf63e683 · measurement date 2026-09-27 · 119th Congress · score column nominate_dim1 · bridge none-v0 (NONE)
Pillar 4 reference figures
Visual reference points only. They are never an input to any calculation.
| Figure | Voteview score | Display position | Record used |
|---|
| Bernie Sanders | −0.546 | 23 | current senator (Vermont); Voteview gives one score for his whole congressional record: House 1991–2007 and Senate since 2007 |
| Joe Biden | −0.314 | 34 | Senate voting record (Delaware, 1973–2009); not his presidency |
| JD Vance | 0.850 | 93 | Senate voting record (Ohio, 2023–2025); not his vice presidency |
How the page presents these numbers
These rules only change how a stored number is shown. Every calculation uses the Voteview values themselves.
Display position display_position_v1
- Rule
- display position = (nominate_dim1 + 1) × 50, so −1 is 0, 0 is 50 and +1 is 100. Shown as a whole number on a marker and with one decimal in details, rounded half-up. Presentation only: every calculation uses nominate_dim1 itself.
- Limits
- A position on a line, not a score, grade, rating, rank or alignment. Higher is not better.
- 50 on the line is Voteview’s zero point, nothing more.
- Survey estimates of the public are never shown on this line.
Side label side_label_v1
- Rule
- From the sign of the raw nominate_dim1: below 0 “Liberal side of the voting scale”; above 0 “Conservative side of the voting scale”; exactly 0 “At Voteview’s zero point”.
- Limits
- The same sign rule as the bill sponsor groups (sponsor_nominate_dim1_sign_v1).
Where the Senate sits (wording) senate_position_wording_v1
- Rule
- From the plain Senate mean: if |mean| × 50 is under 2 display points, “The Senate sits close to Voteview’s zero point.”; otherwise “The Senate sits on the liberal (or conservative) side of the voting scale.”
- Limits
- Compared on the exact raw value, not the rounded display number.
What changes with population (wording) population_shift_wording_v1
- Rule
- shift = |plain mean − population-weighted mean| × 50 display points, toward the liberal side when plain − weighted is positive and the conservative side when negative. Exactly 0: “Weighting senators by state population does not move it.”; under 5 points: “… moves it slightly toward the <side> side.”; 5 points or more: “… moves it toward the <side> side.”
- Limits
- Compared on the exact raw values, not the rounded display numbers.
Committee compared with the Senate (wording) committee_comparison_wording_v1
- Rule
- From |committee median − Senate median| × 50 display points: under 2 points, “This committee sits close to the Senate midpoint.”; otherwise “This committee sits to the liberal (or conservative) side of the Senate midpoint.”
- Limits
- Descriptive only: it says nothing about what the committee did or why.
- Compared on the exact raw values, not the rounded display numbers.
Senator / State (Pillar 4)
Senator's voting-record score p4.senator_score
- Shown in
- Senator / State (Pillar 4) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- Transformation
- The senator's row for this Congress in Voteview's member file, joined to the current roster (seated senators only).
- Formula
- nominate_dim1 as Voteview publishes it; no rescaling.
- Versions in this build
- congress — 119
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- One number summarises a voting record along the main dimension of roll-call voting; it does not capture every issue.
- Estimated from recorded roll-call votes only: missed votes, and bills that never reached a vote, are not included.
- Voteview re-estimates scores as new votes are recorded, so a score can shift slightly between source snapshots.
- The score describes a voting pattern relative to other members of Congress; it is not a judgment of any person.
- Senators with few recorded votes have less certain scores.
- When it is not available
- a seated senator Voteview has not scored yet has no score (never a predecessor's)
State public's estimated ideology p4.state_public_estimate
- Shown in
- Senator / State (Pillar 4) · main view
- Units
- American Ideology Project mrp_ideology, wave 2020 (survey scale; not the Voteview scale)
- Raw source
- American Ideology Project (Tausanovitch & Warshaw), subnational ideology estimates v2022, file aip_states_ideology_v2022a.tab, column mrp_ideology (Tausanovitch and Warshaw, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/BQKU4M)
- Transformation
- The state's row for survey wave 2020 in the American Ideology Project state file, in the survey's own units.
- Formula
- mrp_ideology as published (multilevel regression and poststratification of survey responses), with its standard error.
- Versions in this build
- public model — sources — methodology version: AIP v2022a mrp_ideology, presidential-year wave 2020
- public model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- public model — sources — source sha256: 3ba4d42dc321…
- public model — sources — source version: 3ba4d42dc321…
- public model — wave: 2020
- Limitations
- On the survey's own scale: it cannot be compared with senator scores, and no distance between them is shown.
- An estimate with uncertainty: the standard error is shown beside it.
- Wave 2020 pools survey responses from its stated survey period, not a single day.
- Which population it describes (adults, citizens or voters) is defined by the American Ideology Project, not by CivicAlign.
- When it is not available
- no American Ideology Project estimate for the state in the configured wave
State public on the senator scale p4.state_on_senator_scale
- Shown in
- Senator / State (Pillar 4) · main view
- Units
- legislator scale
- Raw source
- American Ideology Project (Tausanovitch & Warshaw), subnational ideology estimates v2022, file aip_states_ideology_v2022a.tab, column mrp_ideology (Tausanovitch and Warshaw, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/BQKU4M)
- CivicAlign bridge registry (bridge.py)
- Transformation
- The state estimate converted by the active bridge.
- Formula
- bridge.to_common(active bridge, estimate, standard error).
- Versions in this build
- bridge — bridge version: none-v0
- bridge — record id: f2b956420074…
- bridge — status: NONE
- public model — sources — methodology version: AIP v2022a mrp_ideology, presidential-year wave 2020
- public model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- public model — sources — source sha256: 3ba4d42dc321…
- public model — sources — source version: 3ba4d42dc321…
- public model — wave: 2020
- Limitations
- Requires a validated (or clearly provisional) bridge; none exists.
- When it is not available
- needs a bridge placing public estimates on the senator scale; the active bridge none-v0 has status NONE, so no such conversion exists
Distance between senator and state public p4.distance
- Shown in
- Senator / State (Pillar 4) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- American Ideology Project (Tausanovitch & Warshaw), subnational ideology estimates v2022, file aip_states_ideology_v2022a.tab, column mrp_ideology (Tausanovitch and Warshaw, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/BQKU4M)
- CivicAlign bridge registry (bridge.py)
- Transformation
- Both numbers on the senator scale.
- Formula
- |senator score - state public on the senator scale|.
- Versions in this build
- bridge — bridge version: none-v0
- bridge — record id: f2b956420074…
- bridge — status: NONE
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- public model — sources — methodology version: AIP v2022a mrp_ideology, presidential-year wave 2020
- public model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- public model — sources — source sha256: 3ba4d42dc321…
- public model — sources — source version: 3ba4d42dc321…
- public model — wave: 2020
- Limitations
- Not calculated until a bridge exists.
- When it is not available
- needs a bridge placing public estimates on the senator scale; the active bridge none-v0 has status NONE, so no such conversion exists
Reference figures on the senator scale p4.reference_anchor
- Shown in
- Senator / State (Pillar 4) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- Transformation
- Each figure's rows in Voteview's member file under the Voteview id of their Senate record (House and Senate rows only; Voteview's separate President rows are excluded).
- Formula
- nominate_dim1 as Voteview publishes it, which must be the same on every row of that id; no rescaling.
- Versions in this build
- Bernie Sanders: source version: c9cad95f5559…; source sha256: c9cad95f5559…; retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z; congresses — House: 102–109; congresses — Senate: 110–119; number of votes — House: 6910; number of votes — Senate: 5435
- Joe Biden: source version: c9cad95f5559…; source sha256: c9cad95f5559…; retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z; congresses — Senate: 93–111; number of votes — Senate: 10910
- JD Vance: source version: c9cad95f5559…; source sha256: c9cad95f5559…; retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z; congresses — Senate: 118–119; number of votes — Senate: 512
- Limitations
- Visual reference points only: never an input to any calculation, weight, centre, median, mean or drift.
- Joe Biden's and JD Vance's scores come only from their Senate votes; a presidency or vice presidency casts no roll-call votes, and Voteview's separate President estimate is not used.
- Bernie Sanders is also a current senator, so he appears among the senators too; his reference point is the same number, estimated from his House and Senate votes together.
- JD Vance's Senate record is short (two Congresses), so his score is less certain than the others'.
- Voteview gives each legislator one score for a whole career; comparing records from different decades relies on DW-NOMINATE's assumptions about how the scale holds over time.
- The three were chosen as recognisable names spread across the scale; the choice is editorial and says nothing about any senator being like or unlike them.
- One number summarises a voting record along the main dimension of roll-call voting; it does not capture every issue.
- Estimated from recorded roll-call votes only: missed votes, and bills that never reached a vote, are not included.
- Voteview re-estimates scores as new votes are recorded, so a score can shift slightly between source snapshots.
Senate / Nation (Pillar 5)
Senators included p5.active_senators
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- senators
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- Transformation
- Seated senators (roster) who have a Voteview score.
- Formula
- count of seated, scored senators.
- Versions in this build
- congress — 119
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- A seated senator Voteview has not scored yet is listed separately and left out.
Senate average (each senator counted once) p5.plain_mean
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- Transformation
- Active senators' nominate_dim1.
- Formula
- sum of scores / number of active senators.
- Versions in this build
- congress — 119
- measurement date — 2026-09-27
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- population — measurement year: 2024
- population — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- population — sources — source sha256: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — sources — source version: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — vintage: Vintage 2024
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_mean_v1
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_median_v1
- weighting — primary method: population_weighted_mean_v1
- Limitations
- One number summarises a voting record along the main dimension of roll-call voting; it does not capture every issue.
- Estimated from recorded roll-call votes only: missed votes, and bills that never reached a vote, are not included.
- Voteview re-estimates scores as new votes are recorded, so a score can shift slightly between source snapshots.
- Every senator counts the same, whatever the size of their state.
Senate average weighted by population represented p5.weighted_mean
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 national and state population estimates (NST-EST2024-ALLDATA.csv)
- Transformation
- Each active senator weighted by their state's population divided by the number of senators the state has seated (a vacancy gives the sitting senator the whole state).
- Formula
- sum of (score x weight) / sum of weights [weighted mean of active senators' scores: the sum of each score times its weight, divided by the total weight; each senator weighted by their state's population divided by the number of senators the state has seated]
- Versions in this build
- congress — 119
- measurement date — 2026-09-27
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- population — measurement year: 2024
- population — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- population — sources — source sha256: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — sources — source version: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — vintage: Vintage 2024
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_mean_v1
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_median_v1
- weighting — primary method: population_weighted_mean_v1
- Limitations
- One number summarises a voting record along the main dimension of roll-call voting; it does not capture every issue.
- Estimated from recorded roll-call votes only: missed votes, and bills that never reached a vote, are not included.
- Voteview re-estimates scores as new votes are recorded, so a score can shift slightly between source snapshots.
- A candidate method, not a settled scientific definition (status CANDIDATE_METHOD_NOT_FINAL).
- Weights count residents (Census July 1 estimates), not adults, citizens or voters.
- An unscored seated senator's share of their state's weight is left out with them.
- Open questions: median or mean; residents or adults, citizens or voters; how to treat unscored senators, whose share of their state's weight is currently left out with them.
Difference made by population weighting p5.weighting_difference
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 national and state population estimates (NST-EST2024-ALLDATA.csv)
- Transformation
- The two averages above.
- Formula
- Senate average - population-weighted Senate average (sign kept).
- Versions in this build
- congress — 119
- measurement date — 2026-09-27
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- population — measurement year: 2024
- population — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- population — sources — source sha256: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — sources — source version: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — vintage: Vintage 2024
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_mean_v1
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_median_v1
- weighting — primary method: population_weighted_mean_v1
- Limitations
- A candidate method, not a settled scientific definition (status CANDIDATE_METHOD_NOT_FINAL).
- Weights count residents (Census July 1 estimates), not adults, citizens or voters.
- An unscored seated senator's share of their state's weight is left out with them.
- Open questions: median or mean; residents or adults, citizens or voters; how to treat unscored senators, whose share of their state's weight is currently left out with them.
- Positive means the population-weighted average sits to the left of (below) the plain average on the Voteview scale.
Senate median p5.plain_median
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5), Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · details only
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- Transformation
- Active senators' nominate_dim1.
- Formula
- median of active senators' scores (with 100 senators, the average of the middle two).
- Versions in this build
- congress — 119
- measurement date — 2026-09-27
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- population — measurement year: 2024
- population — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- population — sources — source sha256: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — sources — source version: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — vintage: Vintage 2024
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_mean_v1
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_median_v1
- weighting — primary method: population_weighted_mean_v1
- Limitations
- One number summarises a voting record along the main dimension of roll-call voting; it does not capture every issue.
- Estimated from recorded roll-call votes only: missed votes, and bills that never reached a vote, are not included.
- Voteview re-estimates scores as new votes are recorded, so a score can shift slightly between source snapshots.
- The Senate is split by an empty stretch between the two parties; a median can jump across it when a few senators change, so the median is shown only as a secondary comparison.
- Pillar 6 measures each committee against this Senate median.
Senate median weighted by population represented p5.weighted_median
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · details only
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 national and state population estimates (NST-EST2024-ALLDATA.csv)
- Transformation
- The same weights as the weighted average.
- Formula
- first score at which the running total of weight reaches half of all weight [weighted median of active senators' scores; each senator weighted by their state's population divided by the number of senators the state has seated; a cumulative weight exactly at half the total averages that score with the next]
- Versions in this build
- congress — 119
- measurement date — 2026-09-27
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- population — measurement year: 2024
- population — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- population — sources — source sha256: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — sources — source version: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — vintage: Vintage 2024
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_mean_v1
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_median_v1
- weighting — primary method: population_weighted_mean_v1
- Limitations
- The Senate is split by an empty stretch between the two parties; a median can jump across it when a few senators change, so the median is shown only as a secondary comparison.
- A candidate method, not a settled scientific definition (status CANDIDATE_METHOD_NOT_FINAL).
- Weights count residents (Census July 1 estimates), not adults, citizens or voters.
- An unscored seated senator's share of their state's weight is left out with them.
- Open questions: median or mean; residents or adults, citizens or voters; how to treat unscored senators, whose share of their state's weight is currently left out with them.
Difference made by population weighting (medians) p5.median_difference
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · details only
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 national and state population estimates (NST-EST2024-ALLDATA.csv)
- Transformation
- The two medians above.
- Formula
- Senate median - population-weighted Senate median (sign kept).
- Versions in this build
- congress — 119
- measurement date — 2026-09-27
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- population — measurement year: 2024
- population — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- population — sources — source sha256: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — sources — source version: b8b50bd345d8…
- population — vintage: Vintage 2024
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_mean_v1
- weighting — methods computed — population_weighted_median_v1
- weighting — primary method: population_weighted_mean_v1
- Limitations
- The Senate is split by an empty stretch between the two parties; a median can jump across it when a few senators change, so the median is shown only as a secondary comparison.
- A candidate method, not a settled scientific definition (status CANDIDATE_METHOD_NOT_FINAL).
- Weights count residents (Census July 1 estimates), not adults, citizens or voters.
- An unscored seated senator's share of their state's weight is left out with them.
- Open questions: median or mean; residents or adults, citizens or voters; how to treat unscored senators, whose share of their state's weight is currently left out with them.
National public centre p5.national_public
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5), Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- legislator scale
- Raw source
- CivicAlign national public estimate (national.py): UNRESOLVED
- CivicAlign bridge registry (bridge.py)
- Transformation
- Not defined yet.
- Formula
- None chosen: population-weighted mean of state estimates; population-weighted median of state estimates; individual-level national estimate from the underlying survey (not in the state file); any of the above weighted by adults, citizens, registered voters or voters instead of residents.
- Versions in this build
- national public — UNRESOLVED
- bridge — bridge version: none-v0
- bridge — record id: f2b956420074…
- bridge — status: NONE
- Limitations
- A population-weighted average of state estimates is not treated as the national median.
- When it is not available
- needs a national public estimate, whose definition is unresolved (the candidate definitions are in the methodology), and a bridge placing it on the senator scale
Gap between Senate and national public p5.chamber_public_gap
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- CivicAlign national public estimate (national.py): UNRESOLVED
- CivicAlign bridge registry (bridge.py)
- Transformation
- The Senate centre and the national public centre on the senator scale.
- Formula
- Senate centre - national public centre.
- Versions in this build
- national public — UNRESOLVED
- bridge — bridge version: none-v0
- bridge — record id: f2b956420074…
- bridge — status: NONE
- Limitations
- Not calculated until the national estimate is defined and a bridge exists.
- When it is not available
- needs a national public estimate, whose definition is unresolved (the candidate definitions are in the methodology), and a bridge placing it on the senator scale
Senate bills that passed the Senate p5.outcomes_passed_total
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- Senate bills
- Raw source
- GovInfo bill-status bulk data (BILLSTATUS), Senate bills of the Congress
- Transformation
- Each Senate bill's own official action record in the GovInfo bill-status archive: a bill passed the Senate when the record has the Library of Congress action 17000, 'Passed/agreed to in Senate', and no later Senate action vitiates the passage (rule senate_passage_loc17000_v1).
- Formula
- count of Senate bills (S.) of the Congress that passed the Senate; each bill counted once.
- Versions in this build
- bill archive versions — source version: 067c79eeb5c4…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-26T01:32:57Z
- bill archive versions — source version: 080978f371e8…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- bill archive versions — source version: c3f62c94be33…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-28T18:32:58Z
- outcome rule — senate_passage_loc17000_v1
- enactment rule — enactment_signature_or_public_law_v1
- classification rule — sponsor_nominate_dim1_sign_v1
- sponsor score versions — 2c2ac0de7ac8…
- sponsor score versions — c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- Senate bills (S.) only: Senate joint resolutions, simple and concurrent resolutions, and House bills the Senate passed are not included.
- A bill passed by unanimous consent and a bill passed by a recorded vote count the same.
- These counts do not show that the Senate's ideological average, or any senator, caused a bill to pass.
- The counts change as the Senate acts; the record is refreshed daily from the official bill-status data.
Passed-Senate bills that were enacted p5.outcomes_enacted_total
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- Senate bills
- Raw source
- GovInfo bill-status bulk data (BILLSTATUS), Senate bills of the Congress
- Transformation
- Each Senate bill's own official action record in the GovInfo bill-status archive: a bill passed the Senate when the record has the Library of Congress action 17000, 'Passed/agreed to in Senate', and no later Senate action vitiates the passage (rule senate_passage_loc17000_v1). A passed-Senate bill is enacted when the record shows a presidential signature or a recorded public law (rule enactment_signature_or_public_law_v1); a signed bill is enacted before its public-law number appears.
- Formula
- count of passed-Senate bills the record shows were enacted; each bill counted once.
- Versions in this build
- bill archive versions — source version: 067c79eeb5c4…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-26T01:32:57Z
- bill archive versions — source version: 080978f371e8…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- bill archive versions — source version: c3f62c94be33…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-28T18:32:58Z
- outcome rule — senate_passage_loc17000_v1
- enactment rule — enactment_signature_or_public_law_v1
- classification rule — sponsor_nominate_dim1_sign_v1
- sponsor score versions — 2c2ac0de7ac8…
- sponsor score versions — c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- Enactment also depends on the House and the President, not only on the Senate.
- Senate bills (S.) only: Senate joint resolutions, simple and concurrent resolutions, and House bills the Senate passed are not included.
- A bill passed by unanimous consent and a bill passed by a recorded vote count the same.
- These counts do not show that the Senate's ideological average, or any senator, caused a bill to pass.
- The counts change as the Senate acts; the record is refreshed daily from the official bill-status data.
Enacted bills with a public-law number p5.outcomes_public_law_recorded
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- Senate bills
- Raw source
- GovInfo bill-status bulk data (BILLSTATUS), Senate bills of the Congress
- Transformation
- A passed-Senate bill is enacted when the record shows a presidential signature or a recorded public law (rule enactment_signature_or_public_law_v1); a signed bill is enacted before its public-law number appears.
- Formula
- count of enacted bills whose bill-status record shows a public-law number.
- Versions in this build
- bill archive versions — source version: 067c79eeb5c4…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-26T01:32:57Z
- bill archive versions — source version: 080978f371e8…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- bill archive versions — source version: c3f62c94be33…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-28T18:32:58Z
- outcome rule — senate_passage_loc17000_v1
- enactment rule — enactment_signature_or_public_law_v1
- classification rule — sponsor_nominate_dim1_sign_v1
- sponsor score versions — 2c2ac0de7ac8…
- sponsor score versions — c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- Enactment also depends on the House and the President, not only on the Senate.
Enacted bills awaiting a public-law number p5.outcomes_public_law_pending
- Shown in
- Senate / Nation (Pillar 5) · main view
- Units
- Senate bills
- Raw source
- GovInfo bill-status bulk data (BILLSTATUS), Senate bills of the Congress
- Transformation
- A passed-Senate bill is enacted when the record shows a presidential signature or a recorded public law (rule enactment_signature_or_public_law_v1); a signed bill is enacted before its public-law number appears.
- Formula
- count of enacted bills signed by the President whose public-law number has not yet appeared in the record.
- Versions in this build
- bill archive versions — source version: 067c79eeb5c4…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-26T01:32:57Z
- bill archive versions — source version: 080978f371e8…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- bill archive versions — source version: c3f62c94be33…
- bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-28T18:32:58Z
- outcome rule — senate_passage_loc17000_v1
- enactment rule — enactment_signature_or_public_law_v1
- classification rule — sponsor_nominate_dim1_sign_v1
- sponsor score versions — 2c2ac0de7ac8…
- sponsor score versions — c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- Enactment also depends on the House and the President, not only on the Senate.
- These bills are already law: the signature enacts a bill, and the public-law number is assigned afterwards.
Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6)
Committee members listed p6.members_listed
- Shown in
- Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- senators
- Raw source
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: committee-membership-current.json
- Transformation
- Current members of the standing committee in the latest observed membership.
- Formula
- count of current members.
- Versions in this build
- committee membership — date basis: observed, not official (see committee_membership_events)
- committee membership — latest observed date: 2026-09-23
- committee membership — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- committee membership — sources — source version: b478738edf3b…
- Limitations
- Membership is what CivicAlign observed in a source snapshot on the stated date, not an official appointment date.
Committee members with a score p6.members_scored
- Shown in
- Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- senators
- Raw source
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: committee-membership-current.json
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- Transformation
- Current members who are seated senators with a Voteview score.
- Formula
- count of those members.
- Versions in this build
- committee membership — date basis: observed, not official (see committee_membership_events)
- committee membership — latest observed date: 2026-09-23
- committee membership — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- committee membership — sources — source version: b478738edf3b…
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- Members without a score are listed and left out of the median.
Committee median p6.committee_median
- Shown in
- Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: committee-membership-current.json
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- Transformation
- Current members' nominate_dim1 (seated, scored members only).
- Formula
- median of those scores.
- Versions in this build
- committee membership — date basis: observed, not official (see committee_membership_events)
- committee membership — latest observed date: 2026-09-23
- committee membership — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- committee membership — sources — source version: b478738edf3b…
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- congress — 119
- Limitations
- One number summarises a voting record along the main dimension of roll-call voting; it does not capture every issue.
- Estimated from recorded roll-call votes only: missed votes, and bills that never reached a vote, are not included.
- Voteview re-estimates scores as new votes are recorded, so a score can shift slightly between source snapshots.
- Descriptive only: where a committee's current members sit compared with the Senate. It says nothing about what a committee did or decided, or why any bill passed or failed.
- Membership is what CivicAlign observed in a source snapshot on the stated date, not an official appointment date.
- With an even number of members whose two middle members sit on opposite sides of the party gap, the median falls where no member sits.
- Standing committees only; subcommittees, select and joint committees are not included.
- When it is not available
- a committee with no scored current members has no median
Committee median minus Senate median p6.committee_senate_drift
- Shown in
- Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: committee-membership-current.json
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators-current.json
- Transformation
- The committee median and the Senate median.
- Formula
- committee median - Senate median (sign kept).
- Versions in this build
- committee membership — date basis: observed, not official (see committee_membership_events)
- committee membership — latest observed date: 2026-09-23
- committee membership — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- committee membership — sources — source version: b478738edf3b…
- legislator model — roster — roster retrieved at: 2026-09-24T13:40:44Z
- legislator model — roster — roster source version: ae8cb9477c48…
- legislator model — score column: nominate_dim1
- legislator model — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- legislator model — sources — source: Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv
- legislator model — sources — source sha256: c9cad95f5559…
- legislator model — sources — source version: c9cad95f5559…
- congress — 119
- Limitations
- Descriptive only: where a committee's current members sit compared with the Senate. It says nothing about what a committee did or decided, or why any bill passed or failed.
- Membership is what CivicAlign observed in a source snapshot on the stated date, not an official appointment date.
- With an even number of members whose two middle members sit on opposite sides of the party gap, the median falls where no member sits.
- Standing committees only; subcommittees, select and joint committees are not included.
- Positive means the committee median sits to the right of (above) the Senate median on the Voteview scale.
- When it is not available
- no committee median
Committee median minus national public centre p6.committee_public_drift
- Shown in
- Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- Voteview DW-NOMINATE first dimension (nominate_dim1)
- Raw source
- unitedstates/congress-legislators: committee-membership-current.json
- Voteview (voteview.com, UCLA): member ideology file HSall_members.csv (Lewis, Poole, Rosenthal, Boche, Rudkin and Sonnet, Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database)
- CivicAlign national public estimate (national.py): UNRESOLVED
- CivicAlign bridge registry (bridge.py)
- Transformation
- The committee median and the national public centre on the senator scale.
- Formula
- committee median - national public centre.
- Versions in this build
- committee membership — date basis: observed, not official (see committee_membership_events)
- committee membership — latest observed date: 2026-09-23
- committee membership — sources — retrieved at: 2026-09-23T13:05:55Z
- committee membership — sources — source version: b478738edf3b…
- national public — UNRESOLVED
- bridge — bridge version: none-v0
- bridge — record id: f2b956420074…
- bridge — status: NONE
- Limitations
- Descriptive only: where a committee's current members sit compared with the Senate. It says nothing about what a committee did or decided, or why any bill passed or failed.
- When it is not available
- needs a national public estimate, whose definition is unresolved (the candidate definitions are in the methodology), and a bridge placing it on the senator scale
Senate bills referred to this committee p6.bills_referred_total
- Shown in
- Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- Senate bills
- Raw source
- GovInfo bill-status bulk data (BILLSTATUS), Senate bills of the Congress
- Transformation
- Each Senate bill's own committee record in the GovInfo bill-status archive: a Senate standing committee (code SS plus two letters) with the committee activity 'Referred To' was referred the bill.
- Formula
- count of Senate bills of the Congress referred to the committee; each bill counted once per committee.
- Versions in this build
- committee bill archive versions — source version: 067c79eeb5c4…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-26T01:32:57Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: 080978f371e8…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: d187e5c8afa2…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T13:36:13Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: c3f62c94be33…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-28T18:32:58Z
- classification rule — sponsor_nominate_dim1_sign_v1
- committee sponsor score versions — 2c2ac0de7ac8…
- committee sponsor score versions — c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- Senate bills (S.) of the Congress only: joint, simple and concurrent resolutions and House bills are not included.
- Standing committees only, and only the full committee's own activities; subcommittee activities are not counted.
- A bill referred to several committees is counted once for each of them.
- These counts say nothing about why a committee reported or did not report any bill.
- The record is refreshed daily from the official bill-status data.
Senate bills reported by this committee p6.bills_reported_total
- Shown in
- Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- Senate bills
- Raw source
- GovInfo bill-status bulk data (BILLSTATUS), Senate bills of the Congress
- Transformation
- Each Senate bill's own committee record in the GovInfo bill-status archive: a Senate standing committee with the committee activity 'Reported By' or 'Reported Original Measure' reported the bill (sent it to the full Senate). A committee can report a bill that was never recorded as referred to it, for example an original measure the committee wrote itself.
- Formula
- count of Senate bills of the Congress the committee reported; each bill counted once per committee. Not necessarily a subset of the bills referred to it.
- Versions in this build
- committee bill archive versions — source version: 067c79eeb5c4…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-26T01:32:57Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: 080978f371e8…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: d187e5c8afa2…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T13:36:13Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: c3f62c94be33…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-28T18:32:58Z
- classification rule — sponsor_nominate_dim1_sign_v1
- committee sponsor score versions — 2c2ac0de7ac8…
- committee sponsor score versions — c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- Senate bills (S.) of the Congress only: joint, simple and concurrent resolutions and House bills are not included.
- Standing committees only, and only the full committee's own activities; subcommittee activities are not counted.
- A bill referred to several committees is counted once for each of them.
- These counts say nothing about why a committee reported or did not report any bill.
- The record is refreshed daily from the official bill-status data.
Reported bills not first recorded as referred to this committee p6.bills_reported_without_referral
- Shown in
- Committee / Senate / Nation (Pillar 6) · main view
- Units
- Senate bills
- Raw source
- GovInfo bill-status bulk data (BILLSTATUS), Senate bills of the Congress
- Transformation
- Each Senate bill's own committee record in the GovInfo bill-status archive: a Senate standing committee with the committee activity 'Reported By' or 'Reported Original Measure' reported the bill (sent it to the full Senate). A committee can report a bill that was never recorded as referred to it, for example an original measure the committee wrote itself.
- Formula
- count of bills the committee reported whose record shows no 'Referred To' activity for that committee.
- Versions in this build
- committee bill archive versions — source version: 067c79eeb5c4…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-26T01:32:57Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: 080978f371e8…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T00:23:17Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: d187e5c8afa2…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-27T13:36:13Z
- committee bill archive versions — source version: c3f62c94be33…
- committee bill archive versions — retrieved at: 2026-09-28T18:32:58Z
- classification rule — sponsor_nominate_dim1_sign_v1
- committee sponsor score versions — 2c2ac0de7ac8…
- committee sponsor score versions — c9cad95f5559…
- Limitations
- Such a bill is counted as reported and not as referred; nothing is hidden or moved between the two counts.
- Senate bills (S.) of the Congress only: joint, simple and concurrent resolutions and House bills are not included.
- Standing committees only, and only the full committee's own activities; subcommittee activities are not counted.
- A bill referred to several committees is counted once for each of them.
- These counts say nothing about why a committee reported or did not report any bill.
- The record is refreshed daily from the official bill-status data.