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Find Statistics & Data

Selected Resources

American Community Survey
ACS is the premier source for detailed population and housing information.
Brookings Institute Vital Statistics On Congress
With some chapters of data dating back nearly 100 years, Vital Statistics documents how Congress has changed over time, illustrating, for example, the increasing polarization of Congress and the diversifying demographics of those who are elected to serve.
Campaign Finance: Guide from Northwestern
Comprehensive library guide for resources including articles and data.
Center for Legislative Archives
Preserves and makes available to researchers the historical records of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives
Statistics, roll call votes, bill summaries and more.
Comparative Agendas Project
UT-Austin data archive that tracks policy outcomes across countries. Includes topics such as US State of the Union Addresses, roll-call votes and committee hearings, and priorities of the public.
Congressional Historical Statistics, 1789- 1989
Hosted on ICSPR, data includes biography, party membership, elections, committee membership. Legislative data include roll call votes, and presidential requests for legislative action.
Data.Gov
U.S. Government’s open data resource including
resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, and design data visualizations.
General Social Survey (GSS), 1972+
Data on contemporary American society including attitudes toward government, life, race, religion, and other social issues.

Social Explorer
Data visualization tool that allows users to create, save, and export data maps and reports. The raw data is sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDC, the FBI, the National Historical Geographic Information System as well as other government and commercial bodies. Those datasets can be downloaded for use on other platforms, and external datasets can be uploaded. The bulk of the material relates to the United States. There is census information as early as 1790 but most datasets are from 2000-2021.

United States Congressional District Shapefiles, 1789- 2012
Provides digital boundary definitions for every U.S. Congressional District in use between 1789 and 2012.
Vital statistics on the presidency : George Washington to Barack Obama
Ebook covering George Washington's tenure through the 2012 election. Data is put into context by essays explaining key statistical patterns, making this a comprehensive reference to important patterns throughout the history of the presidency.
VoteView
Voteview allows users to view every congressional roll call vote in American history on a map of the United States and on a liberal-conservative ideological map including information about the ideological positions of voting Senators and Representatives.

Election Resources

American National Election Studies (ANES), 1948+
Oldest continuous series of survey data investigating electoral behavior and attitudes in the United States (since 1948). ANES interviews are conducted before and after presidential elections and after national congressional elections. Post-election interviews include questions on actual voting behavior. Click on "Data Center" at the top of the page to download the datasets for the various waves. Click on "Utilities" to browse/search lists of questions and variables.
Data.Gov
U.S. Government’s open data resource including
resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, and design data visualizations.
Elections and Voting Data Guide: United States (U.S.) and International
Data, statistics, media, and other resources on elections and voting, turnout, campaigns and nominations, electoral administration, and more, both in the United States and internationally.
Federal Election Commission
Compilation of the official, certified federal election results obtained every two years from each state’s election office and other official sources. The site provides the primary, runoff, and general election results for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and, when applicable, U.S. President from 1982 to the present.
National Archives: Historical Election Results
Contains the electoral votes and popular votes from 1789 to the present. Also include are interactive Electoral College Maps that allow you to view and analyze past results from 1964 to the present.
The American Presidency Project
Established in 1999 at the University of California- Santa Barbara, this repository provides nearly 100,000 current and historical executive branch documents on American Presidents from 1789 to 2008. Site also includes election data and statistics from 1789 to current.

State & Local Resources

Correlates of State Policy Project
The Correlates of State Policy Project includes more than 2000 variables, with observations across the 50 U.S. states and across time (1900–2019, approximately). These variables represent policy outputs or political, social, or economic factors that may influence policy differences.
Measuring American Legislatures
An effort to code the ideological orientations of both state legislatures and individual state legislators.
National Institute for Money in State Politics (NIMSP)
NIMSP is a watchdog group with an extensive clearinghouse of data on campaign contributions and lobbying, with a focus on elections at the state level.
State Ideology Data, 1960+
Assembled by Richard C. Fording at UofA- Tuscaloosa, this data measures the ideological leadings of the public and political leaders.