Methodology
Sources
Every number on this site is footnoted in its source document with this level of specificity. Where a source has a known political lean, the source documents say so — that discipline is preserved here rather than smoothed over.
- Program for Public Consultation, University of Maryland
- Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2026 to 2036
- Social Security Administration, 2026 OASDI Trustees Report
- Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary, minimum-benefit provision estimate
- Congressional Budget Office, 2026 poverty-guideline benchmark
- More in Common, The Perception Gap (Yudkin, Hawkins, Dixon)
- Congressional Research Service, R44846 (life expectancy by income)
- National Conference of State Legislatures
- Ballotpedia and state election offices
- Cook Political Report
- Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, National Retirement Risk Index
- Federal Reserve and AARP
- DHS and Pew Research
- Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (noted in-text as generally regarded as progressive-leaning)
- Giving USA / Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
- McGhee, Masket, Shor, Rogers & McCarty, American Journal of Political Science (2014)
- USC Schwarzenegger Institute
- Ahler, Citrin & Lenz, UC Berkeley
- CalMatters
- Public Policy Institute of California
- Brennan Center for Justice (noted in-text as left-leaning)
- Michigan and California state constitutions (redistricting commission design)
- Katherine Gehl & Michael Porter, The Politics Industry (2020)
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget / Peterson Foundation
- Roll Call and CNN (reporting on the July 22, 2026 House stock-trading vote)
- NBC News and Axios (reporting on the May 2024 collapse of the Lankford–Sinema–Murphy border bill)
- U.S. Department of the Treasury / trumpaccounts.gov
- U.S. Department of Education, Repayment Assistance Plan fact sheet
- U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, institutional risk-sharing proposal
- U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995)
- Reporting on No Labels' 2024 candidate recruitment (Washington Post, NPR, Axios, BBC)