LEGAL

Privacy policy

Last updated: February 25, 2026

1. Introduction

USApprate ("we," "our," or "us") operates the website usapprate.com (the "Website"). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit our Website, and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. Please read this policy carefully to understand our practices regarding your information.

2. Information We Collect

We are committed to collecting only the minimum amount of information necessary to provide our services. Unlike many websites, we do not require user registration or collect personally identifiable information (PII) such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, or physical addresses for the use of our core voting and browsing features.

The information we collect includes:

  • Browser Fingerprint: We generate a unique identifier based on your browser and device characteristics using FingerprintJS technology. This identifier is used solely to prevent duplicate voting and does not contain personally identifiable information. It cannot be used to determine your identity, name, email, or location.
  • Voting Data: When you cast a vote (support or oppose) on a politician, party, or cabinet member, we store your vote along with the browser fingerprint to ensure voting integrity.
  • Comments: If you submit a comment, the content of your comment and the display name you choose are stored and displayed publicly on the Website.
  • Usage Data: We automatically collect certain information when you visit our Website, including your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring URLs, pages viewed, time spent on pages, and the date and time of your visit. This data is collected through server logs and analytics tools.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • To calculate and display real-time approval ratings for elected officials and political parties.
  • To prevent vote manipulation and ensure the integrity of our rating system by limiting each visitor to one vote per official.
  • To display user-submitted comments and opinions on politician and party profile pages.
  • To analyze usage trends and improve the functionality, performance, and user experience of our Website.
  • To detect and prevent fraudulent activity, including automated bot voting and other forms of abuse.
  • To comply with legal obligations and protect our rights.

4. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We may use cookies, web beacons, and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience and collect analytics data. The types of cookies we use include:

  • Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for the Website to function properly. They enable core features such as security, session management, and accessibility. You cannot opt out of essential cookies.
  • Analytics Cookies: We use Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager) to understand how visitors interact with our Website. These cookies collect information anonymously, including the number of visitors, the pages they visited, and the sources from which they arrived. You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
  • Advertising Cookies: We may display advertisements through Google AdSense or similar services. These services may use cookies to show you relevant ads based on your interests. You can manage your ad preferences through Google's Ad Settings.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, if you disable or refuse cookies, some parts of the Website may become inaccessible or not function properly, including the ability to vote.

5. Third-Party Services

Our Website uses the following third-party services that may collect information:

  • Google Tag Manager / Google Analytics: For website usage analysis and performance monitoring.
  • Google AdSense: For displaying advertisements. Google may use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our Website or other websites.
  • FingerprintJS: For browser fingerprint generation used in vote fraud prevention.

These third-party services have their own privacy policies governing the use of your information. We encourage you to review their respective privacy policies.

6. Data Retention

We retain voting data and browser fingerprints for as long as necessary to maintain the integrity of our approval rating system. Comments are retained indefinitely unless the commenter requests removal or the content violates our community guidelines. Usage analytics data is retained in accordance with our analytics provider's data retention policies.

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include encrypted data transmission (HTTPS), secure server infrastructure, and regular security audits.

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

8. Children's Privacy

Our Website is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information from our systems.

9. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including:

  • The right to access information we hold about you.
  • The right to request correction of inaccurate information.
  • The right to request deletion of your information.
  • The right to opt out of certain data processing activities.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact information provided below.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post the updated policy on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

11. Contact Information

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us via our Contact Form .