Ideology score

Published academic estimates of where a candidate sits on a left-right scale, with their source and license.

Returned by: GET /v1/candidates, GET /v1/candidates/{id}
Found in: Candidate (ideology)
Shapes: The full record is in a candidate’s ideology. The shorter forms in each score leave some fields out; a field that isn’t in every form says where it is.

How it connects

On every candidate as ideology; with format=csv, GET /v1/candidates has dime_cfscore.
Compare the scores of the candidates an endorser picks: GET /v1/endorsements?endorsers={slug}, then each candidate.

Good to know

Each score is its authors’ estimate from their own method, not a fact about the person, and is neither an endorsement nor a rating.
Only DIME CFscores are loaded (Bonica, DIME public version 4.0, ODC-BY 1.0), matched on the FEC candidate id, so only federal candidates who raised money have one. Voteview DW-NOMINATE and Shor-McCarty scores are left out because their terms don’t allow commercial use.
DIME’s license asks for attribution: cite Bonica, Adam. 2024. Database on Ideology, Money in Politics, and Elections: Public version 4.0. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Libraries. https://data.stanford.edu/dime.

Fields

Field	Type	Meaning	Example
`dime_cfscore`	numberor null	The candidate’s DIME CFscore (Bonica, DIME v4.0, ODC-BY 1.0): one left-right scale from who gives money to whom, negative left and positive right; null where DIME has none (it covers candidates with an FEC id who raised money).Only in a candidate’s ideology.	`-0.897`
`scores`	array of Ideology score	Every score we hold for the candidate, with its source and license.Only in a candidate’s ideology.	—
`measure`	string	Which published measure: dime_cfscore (loaded) or dw_nominate and shor_mccarty (not loaded; their terms don’t allow commercial use).`dime_cfscore`, `dw_nominate`, `shor_mccarty` meaningsOnly in each score.	`dime_cfscore`
`score`	number	The score: for dime_cfscore, roughly -2 to 2, negative left and positive right.Only in each score.	`-0.897`
`second_dimension`	numberor null	A second dimension, for measures that have one; null for dime_cfscore.Only in each score.	—
`period`	string	The years the estimate covers, as the source gives them (dime_cfscore: 1979-2024).Only in each score.	`1979-2024`
`person_key`	string	The source’s own key for the person: the FEC candidate id for dime_cfscore.Only in each score.	`H8CA39174`
`license`	string	The license the source is published under: ODC-BY 1.0 for DIME, which asks that you cite it (see /docs/research).Only in each score.	`ODC-BY 1.0`
`source`	object	The source of the score.Only in each score.	—
`source.name`	string	Who published the score.Only in each score.	`Bonica, DIME public version 4.0 (Stanford University Libraries)`
`source.url`	stringURL	Where the score was published.Only in each score.	`https://data.stanford.edu/dime`
`retrieved_on`	stringYYYY-MM-DD	When we read it from the source.Only in each score.	`2026-11-14`

Download every dictionary as CSV or JSON.

Sample (JSON)

One ideology score as the API returns it, in a candidate’s ideology. More in the sample data.

{
  "dime_cfscore": -0.897,
  "scores": [
    {
      "measure": "dime_cfscore",
      "score": -0.897,
      "second_dimension": null,
      "period": "1979-2024",
      "person_key": "H8CA39174",
      "license": "ODC-BY 1.0",
      "source": {
        "name": "Bonica, DIME public version 4.0 (Stanford University Libraries)",
        "url": "https://data.stanford.edu/dime"
      },
      "retrieved_on": "2026-11-14"
    }
  ]
}