LibGuides: Political Science: Find Data & Statistics

Learn About Data

Sage Research Methods (SRM)
Definitions and sample use cases for qualitative and quantitative research. Sample datasets. Use tools like a methods map, project planner, and statistical methods recommender. Coverage dates: 1970 - present

Data & Statistics Best Bets

Social Explorer

Analyze data from the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, Religious Congregations and Membership Studies, FBI and Uniform Crime Reports, and more. Coverage dates: 1790 - present

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

Dataset archive from an international consortium of academic institutions and research organizations. Coverage dates: 1790 - present

iPoll (Roper)

Statistics from poll questions that have been asked in the US since 1935. All major U.S. polling organizations included. Coverage dates: 1935 - present

International statistics and datasets for a wide variety of topics including agriculture, criminal justice, politics, education, business, sociology, census, transportation, consumer behavior, and more. Coverage dates: 1970 - present

Polling the Nations

Questions and responses to public opinion polls on breaking-news events and pressing social issues of the day. Comprehensive international and U.S. coverage.

U.S./State/Texas Data

Federal Election Commission (Election Results)
US election results. Coverage dates: 2004 - current
Comparative Agendas: United States
The U.S. Policy Agendas Project collects and organizes data from various archived sources to trace changes in the national policy agenda and public policy outcomes of the United States since the Second World War.
Voteview.com
View every congressional roll call vote in American history on a map of the United States and on a liberal-conservative ideological map including information about the ideological positions of voting Senators and Representatives. Maintained and updated by UCLA.
Civiqs Results
Results from current polls about what the American public currently thinks about a wide range of issues, candidates, and groups. Select a question to see how opinions have evolved over time. Below each trendline chart, a table shows attitudes within key demographic groups.
GDELT Project Analysis
A variety of tools and services that allow you to visualize, explore, and export the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) project - a realtime database of global society.
General Social Survey (GSS)
Measures U.S. attitudes toward social and public policy issues, economic status, political events, work, and family life. Coverage dates: 1972 - present
United States Census Bureau: Voting and Registration
In election years, the Current Population Survey collects data on reported voting and registration, and later reports stats by turnout, age, race and origin.

Open States
A collection of tools that make it possible for citizens to track what is happening in their state's capitol by aggregating information from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Texas.gov Open Data
Open data project from the State of Texas. Contains data on a broad range of topics.
Texas Demographic Center
Produces and disseminates population estimates and projections for Texas, as well as other demographic information.
Texas Election Results
Contains current and historical election results for Texas. Also includes balloting language for State Constitutional Amendments,

Afrobarometer
Pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in more than 35 countries in Africa.
Eurobarometer
Public opinion polls conducted by the European Commission. Surveys and studies address major topics concerning European citizenship: enlargement, social situation, health, culture, information technology, environment, the Euro, defense, etc.
European Social Survey
An academically driven cross-national survey conducted across Europe since 2001. The survey measures the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of diverse populations in more than thirty nations. Data can be analyzed online or downloaded.
GDELT Project Analysis
A variety of tools and services that allow you to visualize, explore, and export the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) project - a realtime database of global society.
International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
Cross-national collaboration program that conducts annual surveys on diverse topics relevant to social sciences.
World Bank Data Catalog
Search for datasets by region/country.
World Values Survey
The series is designed to enable a crossnational comparison of values and norms on a wide variety of topics and to monitor changes in values and attitudes across the globe. A variety of questions on religion and morality were included. Data is currently available at ICPSR for 1981-1984, 1990-1993, 1995-1997, and 1999-2004.

Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)
A collaborative program of research among election study teams from around the world. Participating countries and provinces include a common module of survey questions in their post-election studies. The resulting data are deposited along with voting, demographic, district and macro/electoral system variables. The studies are then merged into a single, free, public dataset for use in comparative study and cross-level analysis.
Constituency-Level Elections Archive
A repository of detailed election results at the constituency level for lower house legislative elections from around the world.
IDEA: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
Provides a number of databases on electoral systems, democracy, political parties, and voter turnout in nations around the world.

Finding Data & Statistics

We have created a separate guide for finding data and statistical information, most of which is relevant to political science. To access this information, please see our Research Guide for finding Data & Statistics.

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Aggregate Data Finders

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
Dataset archive from an international consortium of academic institutions and research organizations. Coverage dates: 1790 - present
SimplyAnalytics
Consumer, census, marketing, and business statistics. Create maps or tables at the zip code, city, or county level. You must create an account with your TCU email in order to save your work. Data can be exported. Coverage dates: Current
DataPlanet
International statistics and datasets for a wide variety of topics including agriculture, criminal justice, politics, education, business, sociology, census, transportation, consumer behavior, and more. Create tables, maps, rankings, and pie charts. Data can be exported. Coverage dates: 1970 - present
Social Explorer
Analyze data from the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, Religious Congregations and Membership Studies, FBI and Uniform Crime Reports, and more. Users can customize, save, print, and email maps and reports and export them to a variety of statistical programs. Coverage dates: 1790 - present

The MacroData Guide
The MacroDataGuide is a tool that has been especially developed by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services to save researchers and students time and energy in their search for high quality social science macro data. While the main distinction is most often drawn between micro and macro data, the term 'meso data' is also sometimes used. Meso data generally refers to data on collective and cooperative actors such as commercial companies, organizations or political parties.
The Quality of Government Institute - QoG Datasets
See codebook for comprehensive list of links to political science datasets on pretty much any political topic you can think of.

Polling the Nations This link opens in a new window
Questions and responses to public opinion polls on breaking-news events and pressing social issues of the day. Comprehensive international and U.S. coverage.

The MacroData Guide
The MacroDataGuide is a tool that has been especially developed by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services to save researchers and students time and energy in their search for high quality social science macro data. While the main distinction is most often drawn between micro and macro data, the term 'meso data' is also sometimes used. Meso data generally refers to data on collective and cooperative actors such as commercial companies, organizations or political parties.
DataFinder from the Population Reference Bureau
A database with hundreds of variables for the US and the world.

Harvard Dataverse
Access the world's largest collection of social science research data here by searching across or browsing through one of the virtual data archives (called "dataverses") listed below. Data is uploaded by researchers from around the world.
UC San Diego Dataverse
Miscellaneous datasets housed at UC San Diego. Includes:
Data on Terrorist Suspects (DOTS)
Field (California) Poll, 1956 - [Latest Release]
International Country Risk Guide: Table 3B: Political Risk Points by Component
International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE), 1968 - [most recent]
Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) 1978-2003 [Repository Data]
POLIDATA Presidential Results by Congressional District (PRCD)

Political Science: Find Data & Statistics