The Political Map
Beyond the simple left–right line: the horizontal axis is economic — taxes, healthcare, labor, and energy, from redistribution (left) to free markets (right). The vertical axis is social & cultural — abortion, guns, immigration, civil rights, and crime, from progressive (bottom) to conservative (top). The two party mainstreams sit on the diagonal; members off it are economically and socially cross-pressured. Every current member is plotted from their per-issue voting record, and each party platform is placed on the same axes (the larger dots).
Each small dot is a current member (Dem · Rep); the larger dots are party platforms — click one for its closest members. Economic axis: taxes, healthcare, labor, energy. Social axis: abortion, guns, immigration, civil rights, crime.
Compare every party's platform and its closest members →
Why not a "political compass"? The classic compass's vertical axis — authoritarian ↔ libertarian — mislabels the U.S. parties (Democrats aren't libertarians, Republicans aren't authoritarians). This map uses two substantive axes instead: each member's economic and social positions are the average of their scored votes on those issues (−1 to +1), so placement reflects what they actually vote for, not an ideological label.