LibGuides: Political Science: Find Data & Statistics

About Data and Statistics

"Data" may not have accompanying analysis; "statistics" usually result from data analysis and include charts and reported summary statistics. See ICPSR's Data vs Summary statistics decision tree if you're not sure which of these you're looking for.

Hover over the "i" next to the links to view a brief description of the data resource. Some resources may have both data and statistics, some may have one or the other.

Data & Statistics Resources

CQ Voting and Elections Collection This link opens in a new window
Data, analyses, and historical material relating to historical and modern campaigns, elections, and races for Congress, the presidency, and governorships. With the Compare Data feature, users can generate custom datasets about various aspects of elections in America. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1789-present.

Chapman Survey of American Fears Chapman University has initiated a nationwide poll on what strikes fear in Americans. The Chapman University Survey on American Fears included 1,500 participants from across the nation and all walks of life. The research team leading this effort pared the information down into four basic categories: personal fears, natural disasters, paranormal fears and drivers of fear behavior.
American National Election Studies ANES conducts national surveys of the American electorate during election years, producing data on voting, public opinion, and political participation. NOTE: Registration (free) is required
General Social Survey Since 1972, the GSS has been monitoring societal change and studying the growing complexity of American society. The GSS is a yearly survey and one of the most-utilized data sources in the social sciences.
ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) ICPSR is a major social and human sciences dataset repository and a common place for students and researchers to find datasets. ICPSR has a powerful search system and a collection of datasets that stems from academic researchers to international government agencies.
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You must create an account affiliated with Chapman to download data from ICPSR, but you do not need one to search and browse. Some data in ICPSR is restricted-use. Please contact your librarian or one of Chapman's ICPSR representatives if you wish to access a restricted dataset.
Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pews conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
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Pew's datasets are avaiable with an embargo of about a year between publication and access. You can access them on the Pew site by going to "Tools and Resources"" -> "Dataset Downloads." You will need to register for a free account to download datasets. Dataset downloads come as .zip files with codebooks and study info as PDFs and data as SPSS files.
Roper Center Archives (iPoll) A large collection of poll data from U.S. polling firms with broad topical coverage of opinions and behavior on social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, and more.
IPUMS (Integrated Public-Use Microdata Samples) 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 contexts. Data and services available free of charge.
Kaiser Family Foundation The KFF Health Tracking Poll is the Kaiser Family Foundation’s signature survey project, providing consistent and up-to-date information on the public’s opinions, knowledge, and experiences with the U.S. health care system.
Public Policy Institute of California The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to informing and improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research.
Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is a nonpartisan electronic media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion polling information, including a daily Presidential approval poll.
World Values Survey A public opinion poll started in 1981 that consists of nationally representative surveys conducted in almost 100 countries using a common questionnaire that investigates such topics as economic development, democratization, religion, gender equality, social capital, and subjective well-being.

Sage Data This link opens in a new window Over 600 customizable datasets with 14 billion data points from licensed and public domain datasets. Includes the EASI Market Planner, which provides data on consumer demographics and usage/spending patterns for products and services in the US. Terms of Use.
SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new window An application that lets users develop interactive maps and reports using thousands of demographic, business, and marketing data variables. Includes the EASI Standard Package, Experian SimmonsLOCAL, and Nielsen PRIZM Data Packages. Terms of Use. Coverage: 2000-present. Restricted to 10 users at a time.
Statista This link opens in a new window Statistics, reports, and insights on over 80,000 topics from 22,500 sources in 170 industries. Includes Digital Market Outlook, Consumer Market Outlook, and Consumer Insights (formerly Global Customer Survey). Terms of Use.

Data.gov A portal for open data from the U.S. government.

CountryWatch This link opens in a new window Provides critical global and country-specific information and data in two sources: Country Reviews are full-text reports on each country around the globe and Country Wire is a country-by-country global news service that provides real-time news. Terms of Use.
World Religion Database This link opens in a new window Contains detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every country of the world. It provides source material, including censuses and surveys, as well as best estimates for every religion to offer a definitive picture of international religious demography. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1900-present.

CIA World Factbook The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.

World Bank Open Data This link opens in a new window Free and open access to global development data at which the Development Data Group coordinates statistical and data work maintaining a number of macro, financial and sector databases coming from the statistical systems of member countries. Terms of Use.
Statista This link opens in a new window Statistics, reports, and insights on over 80,000 topics from 22,500 sources in 170 industries. Includes Digital Market Outlook, Consumer Market Outlook, and Consumer Insights (formerly Global Customer Survey). Terms of Use.

UN Data UNdata is a web-based data service for the global user community. sers can search and download a variety of statistical resources compiled by the United Nations (UN) statistical system and other international agencies. The numerous databases or tables collectively known as "datamarts" contain over 60 million data points and cover a wide range of statistical themes including agriculture, crime, communication, development assistance, education, energy, environment, finance, gender, health, labour market, manufacturing, national accounts, population and migration, science and technology, tourism, transport and trade.

You may also want to look at the resources listed on the Datasets, Statistics, & Resources page of the International Studies subject guide. It provides a longer list of data sources for international politics, individual countries, IGOs, and more.

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.
RAND Corporation The RAND corporation is a nonprofit think tank. Although the organization was created as a global policy think tank with a focus on national security, its work has become increasingly multidisciplinary and broad in scope.
The Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization whose mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.
Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pews conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
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Pew's datasets are avaiable with an embargo of about a year between publication and access. You can access them on the Pew site by going to "Tools and Resources"" -> "Dataset Downloads." You will need to register for a free account to download datasets. Dataset downloads come as .zip files with codebooks and study info as PDFs and data as SPSS files.
Public Policy Institute of California The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to informing and improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research.