Politicians make promises on their stump. We watch — and hold them to it.
Voters deserve to know whether the people who represent them actually do what they said they would. That information exists — scattered across voting records, debate transcripts, press releases, and official statements — but it is rarely gathered in one place, rarely sourced, and almost never neutral. StumpWatch closes that gap: a single, open-source, evidence-first record of what politicians promised, where they stand, and whether they kept their word — the same way for every party.
Bring integrity and accountability back to politics.
Politicians make promises on their stump; we watch and hold them accountable. Credibility is the product — and the same standard applies to every politician, in every party.
Politics is loud, and much of that noise is designed to confuse. Politicians lie, avoid, and obfuscate. Our primary goal is to cut through that confusion and give voters easy access to accurate, sourced information — so anyone can make an informed decision at the ballot box without first untangling spin.
We do not care about a politician’s position on any issue. We care about two things: whether they keep their word and represent it accurately, and whether they pursue a hidden agenda while appearing to act in voters’ interests. Measuring that honestly — for everyone, the same way — is how we work to bring integrity and accountability back to politics.
We also want to bring communication back, in place of fighting and performance. Accountability and verifiable truth make real communication possible: across party lines and within them, for every party. Politics should make the country and its people stronger, not divide them — and we want to help fix that.
Cut through the confusion
Politics is noisy and built to confuse. We give voters easy access to accurate, sourced information so they can make an informed decision at the ballot box.
Word kept, accurately represented
We take no side on any issue. What we measure is whether a politician keeps their word and represents it accurately — not whether we agree with their position.
No hidden agendas
We watch for the gap between what is said and what is done — whether someone pursues a hidden agenda while appearing to act in voters' interests.
Communication over combat
Verifiable truth makes real communication possible — across parties and within them, for every party. Politics should make the country and its people stronger, not divide them.
Principles enforced in code, not just stated in a policy.
Evidence first
We start from the record, not the rhetoric. Every consequential claim is tied to a source you can open and check yourself — and anything unsourced stays a draft, never a rating.
Strictly nonpartisan
The same published method applies to every politician, regardless of party. Neutrality is enforced by process, not promised in a mission statement.
Open source, community driven
The platform, the formulas, and the data are open. Verified contributors propose sourced corrections in the open — accountability built in public, by the public.
Fact and opinion never blur
Community sentiment is welcome, but it is never dressed up as a sourced fact. Facts, claims, assessments, and opinions live in separate layers — by design.
Public and append-only
Every edit is attributed, timestamped, and reversible, and nothing is silently rewritten. The history is the point.
“The history is the point.”
Accountability you can audit — for the people we track, and for ourselves.
Promises on the stump, watched and held to account.
The name says what we do. Politicians have made their promises ‘on the stump’ since they literally spoke standing on tree stumps — StumpWatch is where those promises meet the record. We watch what they pledged and hold them accountable for it: open-source, evidence-first, and the same for every politician regardless of party.
What we are
- A free, open platform that tracks promises and stated positions against the public record.
- A transparent breakdown of promise-keeping — never an opaque single score.
- A tool for citizens, journalists, and researchers to check the claim against the evidence.
What we are not
- Not a pundit, and not an advocacy group for any cause or candidate.
- Not a scoreboard tilted toward one side — the method is identical for everyone.
- Not a place where opinion is allowed to wear the authority of a sourced fact.
From the public record to a score you can audit.
Four steps, each open to inspection. The full formula and definitions live on the methodology page.
- 01
Sourced
Promises and positions are captured with an archived, content-hashed source. No source, no rating.
- 02
Assessed
Each promise is rated on a fixed, published nine-outcome scale — the same scale for every politician.
- 03
Aggregated
A reproducible, weighted breakdown becomes the Promise Integrity Score — exportable, never opaque.
- 04
Auditable
Every edit writes a hash-chained, append-only revision. Stealth edits are detectable by anyone.
What we are trying to do
- 01Make every consequential political claim checkable against an original source.
- 02Keep the record neutral by construction, so it earns trust across the spectrum.
- 03Let anyone contribute, verify, and audit — and see exactly how a conclusion was reached.
- 04Report promise-keeping separately from popularity, because they are different questions.
Honest about where we stand
StumpWatch intends to establish itself as a nonprofit organization. Until then, donations to StumpWatch are not tax-deductible.
We’d rather say exactly where we stand than imply a status we haven’t earned yet — the same standard we hold everything on the platform to.
StumpWatch gets better when more people look closely.
We watch the promises politicians make on their stump and hold them to account — and the record only gets stronger when more people check it. Spot something wrong or missing? Propose a sourced correction; every accepted change is public and attributed. The record belongs to everyone who helps build it.
Questions or corrections? Get in touch.