A new way to measure political leadership

What if leadership had a unit — the way temperature has degrees? How WATT turns thousands of articles into one honest number.

Jul 5, 2026 · 9 min read · WATT

Draft outline — to expand. The section headings below follow the copy deck (§12, M1). Replace this note and the placeholder lines with the full text.

The problem: we rank leaders on gut feeling

Placeholder — the state of the art is vibes: we judge leaders on debate zingers and ad spend.

The idea: a perception score built from real coverage

Placeholder — what if we measured how a leader actually comes across, from what's written about them?

The 40 timeless traits — and why "timeless"

Placeholder — honesty, courage, empathy, decisiveness… traits that great leaders shared across eras.

Weighing the source: why cross-aisle praise counts more

Placeholder — praise from an opposing outlet (β1.2) carries more signal than applause from a friendly one (β0.8).

From raw signal to a 0–100 score

Placeholder — how thousands of sentences roll up into a single, comparable number.

Friction: how dishonesty and toxicity pull a score down

Placeholder — negative traits subtract; moral failures weigh heaviest.

What WATT is — and firmly is not

Placeholder — a directional perception score, not a verdict on ability or a prediction of outcomes.

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