Last updated: July 30, 2026
This methodology applies to the English-language U.S. edition of Referendum.social.
Referendum.social is an independent public polling platform where users can create polls, vote, discuss current issues and explore how other participants responded. Polls may cover U.S. politics, society, public policy, economics, culture, technology, sports and other subjects relevant to people in the United States.
This page explains how polls are created, published, reviewed and displayed, as well as how their results should be understood and cited.
The purpose of Referendum.social is to give people an open and accessible place to express their opinions.
Each poll focuses on a specific question and allows participants to select the answer that most closely reflects their view. Results are displayed publicly so that users can compare different positions, follow changes over time and discuss the topic in the comments.
Referendum.social does not determine which opinion is correct. Our role is to provide the platform, display the votes received and maintain clear and neutral poll pages.
Polls are created through the regular user-facing interface of the website.
Registered users can publish their own questions and answer options. Members of the Referendum.social team and site administrators may also create polls about current events, public debates and other topics of interest. Administrators create these polls through ordinary user accounts rather than through a separate hidden publishing system.
Polls created by administrators are subject to the same general editorial and moderation principles as other polls on the platform.
Polls are usually published immediately after they are submitted. They do not normally require approval before appearing on the website.
Because prior review is not mandatory, editorial review and moderation may take place after publication. A poll may be reviewed following a user report, an internal quality check or the discovery of a possible error or policy violation.
Immediate publication does not mean that Referendum.social has reviewed, approved or endorsed every part of the poll.
Poll questions should be clear, understandable and written in a way that does not deliberately push participants toward a particular answer.
Referendum.social may edit a published poll to:
For example, a narrowly worded question asking whether users support a policy may be reframed as a broader question asking for their opinion about that policy.
Such changes are intended to improve clarity and relevance without replacing the original topic with a different question. A poll should not be edited in a way that makes existing votes appear to answer an unrelated question.
Answer options should be understandable and relevant to the poll question.
Administrators may correct or revise options that are duplicated, unclear, misleading, grammatically incorrect or unrelated to the subject. The purpose of these changes is to make the choices easier to understand, not to favor a particular result.
Not every poll will contain every possible opinion. When a participant’s view is not fully represented by the available options, the comments section may be used to provide additional context.
Tags and categories help users find related polls and help search systems understand the subject of each page.
Administrators may add, remove or replace tags when the original tags are inaccurate, duplicated, overly broad or unrelated to the poll. A poll may also be moved to a more appropriate category.
These organizational changes do not alter the votes already received.
Users choose for themselves which polls they want to participate in.
A participant may find a poll through:
Polls may attract different groups of users depending on their topic, visibility and where they are shared. This is a normal feature of open online polling and should be considered when interpreting the results of an individual poll.
Each submitted vote is added to the selected answer option and included in the poll’s total results.
The website displays:
Percentages are calculated from the votes recorded for that poll and may change as new participants vote.
Poll results are updated as additional votes are received.
Where available, charts help users understand not only the current result but also how voting patterns developed over time. These visualizations may show:
A change in a chart does not necessarily mean that the opinion of the entire U.S. population changed. It shows how the recorded results of that particular poll developed as new participants took part.
Some poll pages allow users to explore results through available demographic or geographic filters.
These tools can help compare how different groups of participating users answered the same question. For example, users may be able to examine differences based on available information about location, age, gender or other characteristics.
Demographic filters provide additional context and make the results more useful for comparison. They represent the responses recorded from participants within the selected group and should not automatically be treated as a complete measurement of every person belonging to that group.
Referendum.social uses technical measures intended to reduce spam, automated activity and manipulation of poll results.
These measures may include restrictions on repeated activity, automated checks and other anti-spam or anti-bot protections. The platform may investigate unusual voting patterns and may remove activity that appears to violate site rules.
No open online platform can guarantee that every attempt at manipulation will be prevented. However, Referendum.social works to protect the integrity of voting and may update its safeguards as new risks are identified.
Referendum.social may review, edit, restrict or remove content that violates the Terms of Service, other site policies or applicable law.
Reasons for moderation may include:
Depending on the issue, moderators may correct a specific part of a poll rather than remove the entire page. For example, an inaccurate tag may be replaced while the poll itself remains available.
Referendum.social is independent of the U.S. Government, election authorities, political parties, candidates, political campaigns and media organizations.
The publication of a poll does not mean that Referendum.social supports its author, its premise or any of the available answers.
The platform may publish polls presenting opposing views on the same political, social or cultural issue. Referendum.social does not use poll wording or displayed results to endorse a particular party, candidate, policy or ideology.
Referendum.social results show how participating users answered a particular question.
They are useful for:
Unless a poll page explicitly states otherwise, results should not be described as an official referendum, official election poll or scientific measurement of the entire U.S. population.
A result should normally be described in relation to the people who participated in that poll.
For example:
62% of participants in a Referendum.social poll selected this answer.
It would be inaccurate to automatically rewrite that statement as:
62% of all Americans hold this opinion.
The value of the poll lies in transparently showing the votes that were actually received, while providing enough context for users to interpret them responsibly.
Poll results, statistics and charts published on Referendum.social may be referenced in articles, research, reports, social media posts and other materials.
When using this information, a direct link to the specific Referendum.social poll must be provided as the original source.
The citation should make clear that the figures come from participants in a particular online poll. Results should not be presented as official government data or as representing the entire population unless the source page specifically supports such a conclusion.
Users may contact Referendum.social if they identify:
Requests can be submitted through the Contact Us page. Please include the poll URL and a clear explanation of the issue.
Referendum.social may correct the content, restore it, make additional changes or uphold the original decision after review.
The word “referendum” on Referendum.social refers to an online public poll or community vote.
Polls hosted on this website are not legally binding referendums. They are not administered by federal, state or local election authorities and do not form part of an official electoral process unless a page explicitly states otherwise.
Referendum.social may update this methodology as the platform develops, introduces new voting or analytical features, or changes its moderation and integrity procedures.
The latest version published on this page applies to the English-language U.S. edition of Referendum.social.
