LibGuides: Political Science: Polls, Statistics, Data

Voter Registration & Voter Information: United States

Voting & Registration, Census Bureau 'Information on reported voting and registration by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics is collected for the nation in November of Congressional and Presidential election years in the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
Voting Statistics: State Electorate Profiles "A typical Census Bureau visualization is a visual presentation of data made with charts, tables, maps, and other graphic elements. Visualizations are often interactive and contain text for labeling, but do not have the narrative text of infographics. Like infographics, they are effective because they simplify information and make use of the human ability to see patterns and trends. Most of our visualizations can be shared, embedded, downloaded, and printed."

Elections & Campaign Finance: United States

Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal Access campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission, including maps and charts, search tools, and downloadable data sets.
Election Information View official vote counts for federal elections among the various states and territories from 1920 to the present, as well as additional information relating to elections, from the U.S. House of Representatives.
FEC Enforcement Query System Search for completed enforcement cases and their public documents. Search by key words or phrases that appear in any public document, or by basic information about cases (e.g. individuals who filed complaints, case number, respondents, etc). Click the box called "More Search Options" to see other information that may be used to narrow a search
Federal Election Commission - Campaign Finance Statistics "Provides access to data tables that summarize campaign financial activity by filer type, election cycle and reporting period. The numbers in all of the tables from the 1999-2000 cycle through the 2009-2010 cycle on this page were generated in April 2013 to provide data for certain periods that had not previously been available. The figures in these tables will vary from numbers that were originally calculated at the close of the reporting period due to amended reports taken into account in the April 2013 calculations. "
MapLight Provides data on campaign contributions, politicians, legislative votes, industries, companies, ballot propositions, and more
New York State Board of Elections Official site of the New York State Board of Elections. Access information on voter registration, campaign finance, election law, and enrollment statistics for the state of New York.

Librarian Tips for Searching Data Resources

Just getting started researching stats or data? Keep these tips in mind to help you find the information you need!

You can still use Boolean Operators when you're searching! Use AND/ OR / NOT to help expand or refine your keyword searches
Use quotation marks to search for specific terms that you need to find grouped together
Need to combine terms? An additional search box might not be available (like in a database) but you can use parentheses to search appropriately. For example: Immigration AND ("congressional hearing" OR "congressional record")

U.S. Government Data

Data USA The most comprehensive visualization of government data.
Statistical Abstracts of the United States Full-text PDF versions of the publication from the U.S. Bureau of the Census from 1878 to 2012. Includes statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States and selected international data. Also includes a full-text PDF version of Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970.
Vital Statistics on Congress "Brookings report now freely updated online "Vital Statistics’ purpose has always been to collect useful data on our first branch of government – in the election and composition of its membership as well as its formal procedure, such as the use of the filibuster, informal norms, party structure and staff. This dataset also documents the increasing polarization of Congress and the demographics of those who serve in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives."

Polls

Gallup Poll Gallup's public web site contains recent polling data including coverage of the 2016 presidential election, public opinion polling information, and more.
Public Agenda Online "A nonpartisan opinion research organization that reports surveys conducted by national firms on public policy issues. Especially strong coverage of quality of life and social issues; for example, race relations, health care, privacy, drug abuse, crime, the environment, and immigration. Lots of eye-catching graphs and tables, and topic-specific pages contain cautionary notes about question wordings, the timing of the featured polls, and margins of error."
Pew Global Indicators Database "Pew Research Center conducts public opinion surveys around the world on a broad array of subjects ranging from people's assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day. Nearly 450,000 interviews in 64 countries have been conducted as part of the center's work."

Historical Statistics: United States

Historical Statistics of the United States Quantitative facts of American history. Statistical tables covering population, work and welfare, economic structure and performance, economic sectors, and governance and international relations. The fully searchable and downloadable electronic edition permits users to graph individual tables and create customized tables and spreadsheets reflecting their own particular areas of interest. Scope: United States. Dates: 1700s-2000 (majority of tables falling between 1790-1990).

David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections Provides detailed information on national results for the major and minor candidates for U.S. President in the presidential elections from 1789 on. Also includes state results beginning with the 1896 elections.
Matter Under Review Archive - 1975 through 1998 While the Enforcement Query System includes all FEC enforcement cases closed since the beginning of 1999, there are many cases concluded in earlier years that have not yet been included in the search system. In order to provide some access to those cases, the Commission has digitized all of the documents originally made public via microfilm for the 4,446 cases closed between 1975 and 1998.
A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825 Although not complete, the site includes data for "all offices from the Federal to the local levels including Presidential elections, Town clerk elections and everything in between." When "complete it will include all 25 states and territories that existed at the time."
Voting America, United States Politics, 1840-2008 Provides cinematic and interactive maps, and analysis, of the Presidential elections in the US from 1840-2008. Maps data by geographic region, political party, voter turnout, voter demographics, and more.
IPUMS: The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) "IPUMS provides census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. IPUMS integration and documentation makes it easy to study change, conduct comparative research, merge information across data types, and analyze individuals within family and community context."

Data and Statistical Information: United States

National
Local (New York State & New York City)

data.gov Data.gov is a U.S. government website launched in late May 2009 to improve public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government
American Fact Finder Find popular facts (population, income, etc.) and frequently requested data about your community.
Population & Housing Estimates - US Census "The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program (PEP) produces estimates of the population for the United States, its states, counties, cities, and towns, as well as for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its municipios. Demographic components of population change (births, deaths, and migration) are produced at the national, state, and county levels of geography. Additionally, housing unit estimates are produced for the nation, states, and counties."
United States Census Bureau Portal to US Census data, including people and households, business and industry, geography and maps. Includes links to special topics and economic indicators.
Vital Statistics on Congress "Brookings report now freely updated online "Vital Statistics’ purpose has always been to collect useful data on our first branch of government – in the election and composition of its membership as well as its formal procedure, such as the use of the filibuster, informal norms, party structure and staff. This dataset also documents the increasing polarization of Congress and the demographics of those who serve in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives."
Statistical Abstracts of the United States Full-text PDF versions of the publication from the U.S. Bureau of the Census from 1878 to 2012. Includes statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States and selected international data. Also includes a full-text PDF version of Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970.

American Community Survey (ACS) via NYC Department of City Planning "The American Community Survey (ACS) is the most extensive nationwide survey currently available. From its annual releases we are able to examine the city’s detailed demographic, socioeconomic, and housing characteristics."
NYC Department of City Planning - Community District Profiles The NYC DCP Portal is a "gateway to data, maps, and other resources describing New York City’s 59 community districts."
NYC FactFinder (Census and ACS) from NYC Department of City Planning Use the Census FactFinder map overlay to learn more about census data in the 5 boroughs.
NYC Open Data Browse through NYC open data sets on topics ranging from city government and housing and development, to education and transportation.
Open Data NY Browse and download over 1,600 New York State data resources on topics ranging from farmers’ markets to solar photovoltaic projects to MTA turnstile usage

Additional Resources

Finding Data - Sociology Guide
Use this page to learn more about the different data resources for sociology research and discover information on demographic & population statistics.
The Data Visualisation Catalogue
Search by function or view a full list of the different ways you can display data, and learn more about what they signify.

Political Science: Polls, Statistics, Data

Polls, Stats, Data

Voter Registration & Voter Information: United States

Elections & Campaign Finance: United States

Librarian Tips for Searching Data Resources

U.S. Government Data

Polls

Historical Statistics: United States

Data and Statistical Information: United States

Additional Resources