How to Use PartyLine

1

Rank your priorities (2 minutes)

The survey opens on the Priorities step. Tap the 13 issue topics in the order that matters most to you. Your top-ranked issues will count more toward your final match scores — so if healthcare is your #1 concern, politicians' healthcare votes will carry more weight than their votes on, say, foreign policy.

What you'll see

#1 Healthcare

#2 Climate & Environment

#3 Economy

+ 10 more topics…

2

Answer questions topic by topic (5–8 minutes)

For each of the 13 topics, you'll answer up to six yes-or-no sub-questions. Each one takes a single tap: Yes, No, or It Depends — "It Depends" is recorded as neutral, so it won't push your score either way. You don't have to answer every question — PartyLine can generate scores from partial answers. Each topic also shows a brief context description so you understand what the policy debate actually is before answering.

Example question — Healthcare

"The government should guarantee health coverage for all Americans."

Yes No It Depends

The progress bar shows "X of 13 topics started" — you can skip a topic entirely if you don't have a strong view on it.

3

Read your match results

After entering your location, PartyLine shows your match percentage with each politician in your area. The percentage is a weighted alignment score — higher means their actual votes are closer to your stated positions. Your "top matches" strip is chamber-balanced — two Senate matches and one House match — so one chamber can't crowd the other out; within each group, cards are sorted by match score.

Example match card

Sen. Jane Smith

Democrat · Texas · Incumbent

84%

Strong match on Healthcare, Climate · Mixed on Economy

Incumbents are scored from real voting records. Candidates without a voting record are estimated from their stated public positions (campaign materials, Ballotpedia, endorsements) and clearly labeled as estimates. A candidate with no substantive public evidence — only a party affiliation — shows “No score yet” rather than a number guessed from party alone. Look for the label on each card.

4

Open a profile to see issue-by-issue breakdown

Click any match card to open the full profile. You'll see a score bar for each of the 13 issues, showing where the politician's votes landed on the −2 to +2 scale versus where you answered. Issues where you're closely aligned show green; issues where you diverge show the gap clearly.

Example issue score row

Healthcare 93% match

Economy 41% match

5

Verify the underlying votes (optional)

Every score is based on official roll call data. If a score surprises you, you can trace it back to the actual votes. See the verification guide for step-by-step instructions using Congress.gov and GovTrack.