About

For journalists

Capitol Lens is free to cite and republish with credit. This page gathers what you need to quote a figure accurately: what each one counts, how to cite it so readers can check it, and where the data comes from.

How to cite a figure

Give the count behind a percentage, not just the percentage: “voted with the President on 264 of 296 votes” tells readers how much it rests on. Name the period and the date of the latest vote in our data, and the data version, so anyone can see the same numbers later. Every member page has a “Cite these figures” section with ready-made citations and a Copy citation button; here is one, generated from today's data:

Citation for “Example citation: Sen. Lisa Murkowski”

Short form for broadcast or social posts: “Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted the President's way on 264 of 296 votes where he took a public position (89%), according to Capitol Lens (votes through Sept. 30, 2026).”

What each figure counts

Votes with own party
Share of votes that split the parties (most Democrats against most Republicans) on which they voted with most of their party. Missed and Present votes aren't counted.
Votes with the President
Share of votes where the President took a public position beforehand on which they voted his way. Missed and Present votes aren't counted.
Votes with the President on legislation
The same, counting only bills and resolutions, not nominations.
Liberal–conservative percentile
Liberal–conservative percentile: where each member's DW-NOMINATE score falls among the 531 members of both chambers ranked, from 0 (most liberal) to 100 (most conservative). Higher means more conservative.
Missed votes
Roll calls the member didn't vote on while holding the seat, out of all held in that time. Voting Present counts as voting. Not shown for the Speaker, who by custom rarely votes.
Bipartisan bills led
Bills and joint resolutions this Congress the member sponsored with at least one original cosponsor from the other party, or on which they were the first such cosponsor. Naming bills are left out. A count, with no denominator.
Key votes
Final passage of bills, budget and war-powers resolutions, veto overrides, conference reports, cabinet-level and Supreme Court nominations, discharge votes and the Speaker election.

Small samples: a percentage isn't shown until it rests on enough votes (20 for votes with own party, 15 for votes with the President, 25 scored votes for the percentile).

Graphics and embeds

Every member, state delegation and roll call has a share image (1200×630) that names its counts, period and data version, and a widget for your site. Use “Download image” or “Share” on any member page, or the “Embed this on your site” panel at the bottom of a member, state or vote page. A comparison link (/compare/?m=…) gets its own preview naming the members.

Examples: A member's share image · A state delegation's share image · A member widget

Downloads and fields

All downloads are free, rebuilt with each release, and listed on the data page. The fields reporters use most: Download the data

members.csv: votes_with_party_shown and votes_with_president_shown are the whole percents the site shows; party_unity_agree of party_unity_votes and president_agree of president_votes are the counts behind them; conservative_pct_congress is the liberal–conservative percentile (0 most liberal, 100 most conservative); votes_through, data_version and methodology_version say what the row reflects. votes.csv and member-votes.csv: every roll call and every member's vote (yea, nay, present, not_voting). Each dated data version is a JSON file listed at /as-of/.

When the data updates

Capitol Lens rebuilds every night (about 5:15 a.m. Eastern) from the public record. Roll calls come from Voteview, which posts them with a delay of days to weeks: right now our votes run through Sept. 30, 2026. Every page's footer gives the build time and the latest vote. Each release's figures are saved as a dated data version that never changes: cite one, and link to its “as of” page so readers see exactly your numbers. Dated data versions

Methodology and limitations

  • No human editor: the President's positions and the vote summaries were matched, drafted and checked with AI (Claude), and the site labels them so.
  • The President's positions count only when stated publicly before the vote.
  • Missed and Present votes are left out of percentages; their counts are shown separately.
  • The liberal–conservative percentile uses DW-NOMINATE, a statistical estimate from all of a member's votes, not a judgment of their views.
  • Party-unity counts depend on how many votes split the parties, which varies by chamber and year.
  • Vote data lags the floor by days to weeks.

How we measure →

Corrections

Found an error? Email corrections@capitollens.org or use the form on the corrections page. Every correction is logged publicly, with what changed and which figures it affected. Corrections →

Contact

Capitol Lens is built by Public Communicators Group. Questions about the data or a figure: corrections@capitollens.org

Coverage

News reports that cited Capitol Lens. Listed as coverage: a citation isn't an endorsement by the publication.