Every politician is asked the same 44 questions across the Five Points of Opportunity. Each answer is scored for, against or neutral from the person's own record, and the answers are averaged into five pillar scores and one OppScore from -5.00 to +5.00.
Where the evidence comes from
U.S. House Clerk and U.S. Senate roll call votes, LegiScan, BillTrack50 and state legislature sites; voter guides and references including iVoterGuide, Vote Smart, Ballotpedia, Citizens Count, BallotReady and OnTheIssues; and the politician's own posts and videos. Every scored answer on a profile lists its sources.
When the evidence disagrees
A politician's own votes and words always beat their party's usual position
A documented record counts at full weight, a platform or nothing found at half
With no record at all a question scores neutral, or the party's measured average at half weight
A roll call vote counts only after a person confirms which question it answers
Self assessments are checked against the record, and a contradicted answer loses to it
The formula in full
Each question is answered from the public record on a 1 to 11 scale: 8 to 11 counts +1, 5 to 7 counts 0, 1 to 4 counts -1
Self assessments are public only after editor approval, and are fact checked against the record
OppScore = 5 x the weighted average of every question's contribution, held between -5.00 and +5.00
Dirt Alerts are kept separate and never move a score