LibGuides: American Politics: Opinion & Data

Public Opinion Data

Newspapers and broadcast media are always excellent sources of public opinion data. In addition, check:

Polling the Nations
Questions & responses from more than 12,000 surveys conducted in the U.S. and 70 other countries.
Roper Center Public Opinion Archives (with iPOLL)
Data from surveys of public opinion and election polls from the 1930s onward, from the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP)
Public opinion surveys investigating attitudes and behaviors related to democratic progress covering over 20 countries in the Americas.

Gallup Polling Trends
Polling on a variety of topics.
Ipsos Latest U.S. Opinion Polls
What are the data and trends shaping America today?

Election Data

CQ Voting & Elections Collection
Data, authoritative analyses, concise explanations, and historical material on U.S. elections.

MIT Elections Lab
Data from election returns at the state, district, county, and precinct level.
Election Results/Data (TX Secretary of State)
Data related to voter turnout, voter registration, and election results in Texas.
ElectionStudies.org
Visuals and dataset from American National Election Studies.

Data Sources

American Community Survey
Annual survey data from the U.S. government on demographics and housing. Replaces the census long form.
Data.census.gov
Data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Note: This resource replaces American FactFinder, which was decommissioned in March 2020.
Data.gov
Interactive/online, raw/downloadable, and geodata from federal agencies at varying levels of geographic detail, and from varying timelines.
Data from federal agencies.
FedStats
Statistics from over 100 American federal agencies on topics such as economic and population trends, crime, education, health care, aviation safety, energy use, farm production and more,
Historical Statistics of the United States
Statistical data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and academic organizations. Permits users to graph individual tables and create customized tables and spreadsheets.
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
Datasets and statistics related to social science and demographics. Since Rice is an ICPSR member institution, Rice students, faculty, and staff can register for a personal password and download information directly from ICPSR using a rice.edu email address.
LexisNexis Statistical
Index and abstracts for U.S. federal, U.S. state, and international organization publications.
Corresponds to print indexes American Statistics Index, Index to International Statistics, and Statistical Reference Index.
Neighborhood Change Database [NCDB] Tract Data
Data from the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 US Censuses, with information about population, household, and housing characteristics, income, poverty status, education level, employment, housing costs, immigration, and other variables. Users can produce maps of populations and landmass.
Sage Data
Statistical data sets across multiple fields like agriculture, finance, education, government, cost of living, and more. Includes tools for visualizing and comparing different data sets.

Gallup Public Datasets
Explore datasets made freely available to the public by Gallup's clients.

State Supreme Court Data Project
Archival database of information on state supreme court decisions from 1995-1998, compiled by Rice University and Michigan State University.

GIS Resources

GIS/Data Center (GDC)

The Rice University, Fondren Library, GIS/Data Center provides library patrons with access to GIS software and supporting hardware, to data resources, and to print and digital map resources.

The Center offers assistance and various types of instruction in using and selecting appropriate resources for the information need.

Social Explorer
Provides access to current and historical census data and demographic information with the ability to create thematic and interactive maps and reports. Includes data on religious congregations.

Note: Users who want to bypass the option to create their own account can click on the Maps & Tables link to access the Social Explorer database.
Digital Atlas of Texas Counties
Downloadable GIS data on Texas counties.

Read more about how GIS is used in the political science field.