Interest groups force candidates to go on the record on niche, low-salience issues that rarely matter to persuadable voters.
Questionnaires, which can be laborious to complete, pull staff and resources away from the core work of winning elections.
Endorsement questionnaires create unnecessary opposition research gold mines, locking candidates into written positions that are frequently weaponized in general elections.
The Questionable is a transparency initiative designed to hold special interest groups accountable and improve the quality and usefulness of political endorsement questionnaires across the Democratic ecosystem.
By collecting and displaying the questions campaigns are being asked, we're calling on organizations to rethink their approach to what they are asking candidates to answer — and whether those asks actually support a winning strategy.
We're aiming to support candidates in navigating questionnaires more strategically and to take a massive time-suck off their plates, without forcing them to go on the record on positions that are not electorally relevant.
Our Mission
Every year, hundreds of privately funded interest groups flood candidates with questionnaires that often function as a loyalty test for money and endorsements. These questionnaires have become rampant, opaque, and increasingly detached from public accountability. While any citizen has the right to petition their elected representatives, this process has been corrupted by special interests operating behind closed doors. Too often, these questionnaires advance extreme, misleading, or plainly unpopular positions and pressure candidates to signal agreement in private that they would never defend in public.
This dynamic distorts incentives, wastes scarce campaign time, and further undermines public trust. We believe candidates should state—clearly, publicly, and unapologetically—what they believe so voters can judge them on the merits. And we believe interest groups that rely on secret questionnaires to exert influence deserve far more scrutiny. Candidates should think carefully before outsourcing their judgment to organizations that lack broad public support.
The Questionable exists to shine a light on these interest groups – what they want, what they are asking of candidates, and whether those asks reflect the values and priorities of the voters candidates are meant to serve.
If you are an organization that buries candidates under sprawling questionnaires and insists on secrecy, stop. You have the right to petition candidates, but not to distort the process through opacity and excess. Do it responsibly, or expect scrutiny.
And if you’re a candidate or campaign staffer, send us the questionnaires you’re receiving and any anecdotes that reflect your experience dealing with them.