Concord
A nonpartisan civic companion.
See where you stand on sixteen issues, hear both sides first, and find the common ground the labels hide.
Why Concord exists
Politics hands people two boxes, and most people do not fit in either. Ask someone issue by issue and their answers rarely line up with one party on everything. The labels hide that, and once they do, the people on the other side start to look like the other team instead of neighbors who weigh the same questions differently.
Concord helps people see where they actually stand, one issue at a time, and understand why others land somewhere else. Every question carries a fair case for and against, the news shows which outlets covered a story and from which direction, and the app explains rather than persuades: it never tries to change a mind or tell anyone how to vote.
The bet
When people see their own views issue by issue, most find they cross party lines somewhere, and share more ground with the other side than the labels suggest. Hearing each side’s reasons in plain words before answering, and seeing the same story from more than one direction, should make disagreement easier to have and the other side harder to caricature.
How we will know
What we can measure without knowing who anyone is: how answers to each question split among readers who lean left, center and right, and how often those groups land on the same side. It is early, and every comparison in the app prints its sample size.
Explains, never persuades
No recommendations, no endorsements, no “your candidate.” It never tells anyone how to vote.
Both sides before you answer
Every question carries a reason to agree and a reason to disagree, and they take turns going first, so neither side always speaks first.
Neutral by code
Automated checks fail the build on loaded words in a question or an issue keyed to one side.
Private by construction
No account. Your answers stay on your phone; only anonymous counts are shared, and you can turn that off.
Start with sixteen issues
Healthcare, housing, immigration, taxes and twelve more, each a scale between two priorities rather than a party box. A short first pass gives an early read, and every answer after it sharpens the picture.
Hear both sides first
Every question shows why some agree and why some disagree before you answer. Answer on a five-point scale, choose Neither, or skip it. A skipped question records nothing.
See your own blend
Your answers come back as a deck of cards: how much of your Compass lines up with each party, and how many issues you cross over on. It is a picture of your answers, not a label.
Learn what each side stands for
Tap a party or movement name to see where it stands on the eight issues where the two parties differ most, in the same plain words the Compass uses for you. Each side is described by its own positions, not by its opponents.
Compare yourself with everyone
See where you lean the same way as the average answer and where you differ, issue by issue. The sample is always printed, and an early one says so.
The same story from more than one side
Concord groups one story across outlets and shows how many left, center and right outlets covered it, so you can read what the other side is reading. When the coverage is one-sided, it says which side is missing. Then you can weigh in on the policy question underneath.
Everything on your ballot
The days until Election Day and every statewide measure you will vote on, each led by the plain question it asks. This is a San Diego voter’s ballot: fourteen California propositions.
What a Yes and a No would do
Each measure says what a Yes vote and a No vote do, side by side, with the official ballot language below. Where a measure’s direction has been reviewed, Compass Insights shows how your own answers line up with it and how many answers that rests on.
Follow the money
California measures show how much has been raised to support and to oppose, with the state’s own list of largest contributors, the date and the source. Concord adds no judgment to the record.
Weigh in on real bills
Federal and California bills with their official status and summaries. Filter to bills still in play or already decided, follow the ones you care about, and write to your representatives with your own stance.
Available now.