Data Sources
Every number on StumpWatch traces back to a source you can check yourself. Search, filter, and sort the full catalog of datasets we use — what each is, who published it, its license, and a direct link so you can check the underlying data yourself. If a source goes stale or a link breaks, tell us.
Rule: no unsourced record counts toward any rating. A promise or position with no cited source stays in DRAFT and is never shown publicly. Every citation we publish carries its source type, so you can see for yourself what a given rating rests on.
Showing 13 of 13 datasets
| Link | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Campaign Finance Data Official federal campaign contributions and expenditures. Used when campaign-finance information is cited in a promise source. | Federal Election Commission (FEC) | Campaign Finance | Public record | View source ↗ |
MIT Election Data + Science Lab (MEDSL) U.S. Senate election results at the county level. MEDSL aggregates official state-level certified results and makes the data publicly available for research. | MIT Election Data and Science Lab | Election Results | CC BY 4.0 | View source ↗ |
Presidential Results by Congressional District Presidential results apportioned to congressional districts — The Downballot's calculations allocating official precinct returns into district boundaries. Shown for 2020 and 2024 on the same 2024 district lines so the swing is directly comparable. Not affiliated with or endorsed by The Downballot. | The Downballot | Election Results | Used with attribution | View source ↗ |
US County-Level Election Results, 2008–2024 Presidential election returns at the county level for 2008 through 2024, compiled from AP, Fox News, and other decision-desk reporting. StumpWatch uses the 2020 and 2024 files for the county and state maps; county returns are aggregated to state totals. | tonmcg (GitHub) | Election Results | MIT | View source ↗ |
Ballotpedia Nonpartisan encyclopedia of American politics: candidate biographies, election history, ballot measures, and state-level legislative information. Used for politician profile data and election context. | Ballotpedia | Legislative & Official Records | Used with attribution | View source ↗ |
Congress.gov Official legislative information for the U.S. Congress: bill text, roll-call vote records, sponsor and co-sponsor data, and member information. Primary source for federal promise-to-vote tracking. | Library of Congress | Legislative & Official Records | Public record | View source ↗ |
GovTrack Aggregated congressional voting records, bill tracking, and member statistics. Used as a secondary cross-check on roll-call votes. | Civic Impulse, LLC | Legislative & Official Records | Public data | View source ↗ |
OpenStates State legislative data: bills, votes, legislators, and committees for all 50 states. Used for state-level promise tracking. | Open States | Legislative & Official Records | Public data | View source ↗ |
Cartographic Boundary Files Simplified state and county boundary shapefiles used for the choropleth maps. Converted to TopoJSON for web display and self-hosted under public/geo — no external CDN call. | US Census Bureau | Map Boundaries | Public domain | View source ↗ |
Congressional District Boundaries (118th Congress) 118th-Congress (2023–2024) congressional district boundary files, used for the presidential-by-district view. Districts are fixed at the 118th-Congress lines for both 2020 and 2024 data so results are directly comparable. | US Census Bureau | Map Boundaries | Public domain | View source ↗ |
US Atlas TopoJSON Pre-projected US county topology used for the county-level national map. Built from Census TIGER/Line files. | Mike Bostock / Observable | Map Boundaries | ISC | View source ↗ |
Citizen Voting-Age Population (CVAP), 2020–2024 ACS 5-Year County-level citizen voting-age population from the Census ACS five-year estimates. Used for partisan-lean and competitiveness calculations that require a population denominator at the county level. | US Census Bureau, American Community Survey | Population Data | Public domain | View source ↗ |
United States Elections Project — Voting-Eligible Population (VEP) State-level voter turnout as a share of the voting-eligible population (VEP) — the citizen population 18+ minus those ineligible to vote. The gold-standard turnout denominator. StumpWatch uses 2024 state VEP figures for the turnout map; there is no official county-level VEP, so county turnout is not shown. | University of Florida Election Lab / Michael McDonald | Voter Turnout | Public, with attribution | View source ↗ |
Promise & Position Sources
Every promise and stated position on StumpWatch must carry at least one cited source before it leaves DRAFT status and counts toward any rating. We grade each citation by what kind of record it is, and the grade is shown alongside it:
- Primary records — legislation text, roll-call votes, floor statements, official campaign materials, press releases from the official’s own office, and recorded video or transcripts of a public statement. These are what a rating should rest on.
- Reporting — contemporaneous news coverage from established outlets. Useful for finding records and for corroboration, but it is not itself the underlying record.
The large majority of rated promises already rest on a primary record. We are moving to require one for every rated verdict; until that change ships, this page will describe what we actually enforce, not what we intend to.
Every sourced promise page links directly to its citations. You can view the full source list for any promise by opening the promise and scrolling to the Sources section.
If you believe a source is inaccurate or a link has rotted, propose a correction.