Essential guide to interpreting political data visualizations, understanding source citations, and recognizing when data might be outdated or incomplete. Check timestamps and look for "stale" badges on older datasets.
Seeing ±3% on election polls but not sure how to interpret this. Does it mean the numbers could be completely different? How do I know if a lead is statistically significant?
Found some budget charts but want to double-check the source data. What's the best way to trace spending numbers back to official documents? USASpending.gov vs agency reports?
Different organizations give politicians wildly different scores. How do I understand what these percentages actually measure? Some say 80%, others say 30% for the same person.
When should I trust American Community Survey data vs actual census counts? Seeing different population numbers for my district and want to know which is more reliable.
Learned about y-axis manipulation the hard way. What are other common tricks that make data look more dramatic than it really is? Want to get better at visual literacy.