Social Science Data Resources: Politics & Political Attitudes

Access to thousands of social science datasets for research and instruction. A first place to start in looking for social science data for secondary analysis.

"Serve(s) as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy." Includes the Decennial Census, the American Community Survey the Economic Census, and more.

Features an alphabetical list of data resources from government agencies. Includes all topics from health, education, economic, crime, child and family, immigration, genealogy, labor and many more.

The 1991 National Race and Politics Survey was a nationwide telephone survey carried out by the Survey Research Center of the University of California, Berkeley. Respondents were asked questions about welfare, race relations, altruism, and members of other races.

Survey of voting behavior in the United States, conducted biennially since 1956. Basic questions on religious identification and attendance at religious services have been asked throughout the time series, but the religion module was widened starting in 1990. Contains links to download all the data.

This series of quadrennial studies was designed to investigate the opinions and attitudes of the general public and a select group of opinion leaders on matters relating to United States foreign policy and to define the parameters of public opinion within which decision-makers must operate. Data covers 1975-2004.

From the U. S. Census Bureau website's Federal, State, and Local Governments Finances page. For data from 1973-1992, go to the ICPSR web site.

Data on the public's use of, and attitudes toward, the Internet and traditional news outlets. Respondents are asked questions concerning their use of newspapers, television news, radio news, and news magazines.

Rrepresentative probability sample surveys in the country designed to explore the changing determinants of electoral behavior in contemporary Britain. The link above is to the surveys from 1969 through 1997. ICPSR also holds the earlier surveys starting in 1963.

Canadian National Election Surveys for 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1984, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2000. Also includes the 1974-1979-1980 Quebec Referendum Panel Study and the 1992 Referendum Survey on the Charlottetown Accord.

The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) is a collaborative program of cross-national research among election studies conducted in over fifty states.

Large set of surveys measuring public opinion in the countries of the European Union, on a wide variety of topics.

Detailed data on campaign contributions and expenditures by candidates, parties, and committees.

In federal election years, the German Politbarometer is considered part of the German Election Study. However, in some election years when funding is not awarded, election studies are not carried out. 1969+

The purpose of this data series was to provide large-scale scientific surveys and make possible in-depth investigation of the political attitudes, perceptions, and electoral behaviors of a large, representative national sample of adult Black Americans. The studies permit analyses and change in the Black community on a scale that had not been possible before the series began.

A non-partisan research organization to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the United States. Downloadable datasets include the 2004 National Survey of Latinos: Politics and Civic Participation, the 2004 National Survey of Latinos: Education, and the 2002 National Survey of Latinos

Contains data on 6,754 political instability events in 84 selected nations in the period 1948-1965. The variables in the dataset are divided into four basic types: variables that identify events, classify events, describe events, and evaluate events.

This Web site contains information on and access to the most recent update of the Polity data series, originally designed by Ted Robert Gurr. The Polity IV Project continues the Polity research tradition of coding the authority characteristics of states in the world system for purposes of comparative, quantitative analysis.

The data provide information on congressional service and selected biographical characteristics for each person who had served in the United States Congress in the period 1789-1996.

ICPSR's holdings of historical election returns data cover the years 1788-1990 and consist of several discrete datasets that contain county- and state-level returns for all elections to the offices of president, governor, United States senator, and United States representative.