METHOD

How ratings work

Every figure in this game has one number: a rating from 60 to 99. It comes from a formula, not an opinion. Here it is.

RATING = scale( E + H + V ) onto 60–99 across the full roster

E — Electoral record. Applies to everyone.

24 × best electoral-vote share as a presidential nominee, plus 0.35 × best popular-vote margin in percentage points (capped at ±20), plus 0.8 × years served as president (capped at 12).

Sources: official Electoral College counts and certified popular-vote totals.

H — Historians component. Presidents only.

40 × percentile in the most recent published C-SPAN Presidential Historians Survey (currently the 2021 edition, which ranks 44 presidents). This is a third-party academic survey, used as published. Presidents who took office after that survey carry no H component until the next edition is released.

V — Vice-presidential service. A flat +3 for having served as Vice President.

Era adjustment is structural rather than applied: figures from before popular-vote records simply carry no margin component, and figures outside the survey carry no H. Nothing is estimated or imputed.

What this means in practice

A figure who was never a presidential nominee — a running mate who never topped a ticket — scores near zero on the electoral component and lands in the low 60s. That is the formula being honest, not a judgment about them.

Ratings change when their sources change. When C-SPAN publishes a new survey, every rating re-derives. We don't adjust individual numbers by hand, and we don't adjust them because someone complained.

How the game uses them

Your five picks are weighted: President 32%, Vice President 18%, and the three Coalition Captains 50% split evenly. A full-ticket party match adds a small unity bonus. Captains additionally boost every state in their assigned region, and the region you leave uncovered pushes back a little harder.

Two things about the Daily

Seats fill in pick order. Your first spin becomes President, your second Vice President, and the last three are your Coalition Captains.

Every Daily board is verified to contain at least one lineup that sweeps all 538. Whether that day's spins actually offer you the pieces is your draft luck — about 44% of boards can be swept by someone drafting perfectly.