Research Guides: POLS 356: Scholarly Debates in American Politics (BMC): Statistics & Public Opinion Data

Public Opinion Data

Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a think think that conducts public opinion polling and other social science research. Their Pew Global section contains research with an international focus. Several of the Publications sub-topics include a Question Search, and downloadable datasets.

Roper Center Public Opinion Archives (iPOLL)
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Find results from US national public opinion surveys (1935-present). Includes public opinion research from 120+ countries. Use this database to find polls from Gallup, Pew, and more.

You can:
- Search iPOLL to find individual survey questions and answers
- Compare public opinion over time
- Find US election exit poll results
- Download full datasets for surveys curated by the Roper Center
Statista: The Leading Statistics Portal
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to selected statistics and studies of over 600 industries gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources from 2007 to the present.

Social Explorer
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Offers access to reports and interactive maps for the U.S. Census (1790-present), World Development Indicators (1960-2013), and Eurostat (European Union data), among others. A project of Queens College, sponsored by the New York Times and the National Science Foundation.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) This link opens in a new window
Provides an enormous list of statistical publications relating to education; includes datasets and published reports. Covers all areas of education including early childhood, secondary and postsecondary education. Coverage varies.

Government Accountability Office
The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress and produces studies of the programs and expenditures of the federal government. Search reports by keyword, or browse by subject. 1971-date, some earlier reports also included.

Use this resource to locate evaluation studies of federal programs.

World Development Indicators (WDI) Online This link opens in a new window
World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized international sources. It includes more than 1100 indicators on population, income, social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environment, covering 210 countries and 18 regional and income groups. Also includes the International Debt Statistics (IDS) database. Data ranges from 1960-present.
Explore Census Data This link opens in a new window
Provides population, housing, economic and geographic data from the latest Decennial Census, the Economic Censuses and Surveys, and the American Community Survey. Users can view reference maps and create comparison tables and thematic maps which can be downloaded and printed. Coverage varies.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
The ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. (2013-Present)

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. Series (1878-2012)
Archived editions of the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. up to 2012 are available via the website of the U.S. Census Bureau.

ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) Data Archive
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to an archive of online social science data, training facilities in basic and advanced techniques of quantitative social analysis. Provides a comprehensive list of ICPSR resources and services, information on membership and governance, links to national data archives affiliated with ICPSR, and contact information.