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The catalog/Debate

Positions

Who supports a proposition, who opposes it, and what the fault lines and the common ground are.

2 credits·in-depth·about 2–4 min·10 domains

What it answers

The question Positions is built for

State the proposition. It records the documented positions of the parties that have taken one, maps the fault lines between them, and finds the common ground the argument tends to overlook.

Who reaches for it

Policy staff, communicators, and anyone entering a debate who needs to know where everyone already stands.

What comes back

4 sections, on every run

These are the headings the result renders, read from the same promise the form makes before you spend a credit. A section that depends on what the record holds is rendered when it can be and never promised here.

01

Brief

02

Positions

Each item Stated position · Underlying interest · Leverage · How it's evolved · Watch Signals · Open question
03

Fault Lines

04

Common Ground

What you give it

2 boxes, 1 required

Contested subject or question
required · up to 300 characters
Framing
optional · up to 600 characters
Try it on: a subject you already hold an opinion about, so you can grade the result against what you know. Each one opens the form filled, in the General domain.
Should the US ban TikTok?Deep-sea mining in the Clarion-Clipperton ZoneConditionality on Ukraine aid
What it will not do

The lines it holds

A position is on the map because the party has stated it on the record. It does not attribute views by affiliation, and it does not decide who is right.

Every claim carries its grade

A claim the scan could not source is marked as such rather than dressed up. How the grades work →

Verified or grounded
Reported or attributed
Contested
Open question
Where it runs

Available in 10 domains

A domain may name it in its own words and price it on its own terms; each row is what that domain shows.

General2 creditsDefenseas Stakeholder Positions2 creditsFinanceas Stakeholder Positions2 creditsEnergyas Stakeholder Positions2 creditsHealth2 creditsPolicyas Stakeholder Positions2 creditsTechnology2 creditsClimate2 creditsLearningas Schools of Thought2 creditsSportsas Where They Stand2 credits
See one

Research already published as Positions

Who Bears Earliest, Heaviest Costs of a U.S. Default

Read the research →

No one has decided who gets paid first if the U.S. runs out of cash under the debt limit — for 71 million Social Security recipients, exposure is set by birth-date payment cycles, not by any policy choice.

Finance · September 9, 2026

Does the Gartner hype-cycle model fit generative AI's trajectory?

Read the research →

Gartner says generative AI is cooling into a trough while hyperscaler capex and Nvidia's own demand signals show acceleration — the two readings of the same technology cannot both be describing a cyclical dip.

Technology · August 31, 2026

FOMC July 2026: Should the Fed have hiked rates now?

Read the research →

The July FOMC split 9-3 not because inflation facts changed, but because Chair Warsh eliminated hawkish statement language as a dissent outlet, forcing three governors into formal votes rather than rhetorical compromise.

General · July 30, 2026
Roles that lean on it

8 role guides suggest it

Policy analystlead scanUniversity professorlead scanPublic affairs directorlead scanDefense think tank fellowSecurity studies academicLobbyist / advocacy consultantTrade association research directorExecutive advisor / board advisor
Try it

Run Positions on something you already know

The fastest way to judge the result is to pick a subject you know cold and read it against what you know. The scan names its credit cost before it runs.

Start with Positions →Plans and credit packs
More in the catalog

Other research in debate

The ArgumentsThe case for and the case against a proposition, each made as strongly as the evidence allows.The whole catalog →