Guides: Political Science Research Guide: Data

Data & Statistics

African American Electorate: A Statistical History This link opens in a new window
A statistical and historical portrait of the African American electorate from the colonial era through the election of Barack Obama.
American National Election Studies This link opens in a new window
High quality data from surveys on voting, public opinion, and political participation.
Association of Religion Data Archives This link opens in a new window
Quantitative data sets for the study of American religion.

Data.gov
Provides descriptions of U.S., State and some municipal datasets (metadata) and information about how to access and download statistical and data sets from open governmental sources.
Data Center from the Council of State Governments
Links to polling numbers, an unemployment tracker, and a database where one can compare how states perform in certain categories.
Choose Data Center at the top.
Data Illinois
Eurostat
Searchable database of European Statistics
Five Thirty-Eight

Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new window
Millennial edition, fully updated and revised from previous 1976 edition. Extensive and easy to use. Excellent source for immigration and population data.
Dates Covered: 1790-2000.

National Opinion Research Center
NORC’s mission is to conduct high-quality social science research in the public interest. Our work is grounded in a commitment to research excellence, innovation, dissemination of data and findings, and collegiality. At the University of Chicago
OpenSecrets.org
Tracks money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy. The website of the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C.
Access note: Freely available to the public.

Passport This link opens in a new window
Market research database providing statistics and analysis on companies, industries, economies, and consumers worldwide.
Access note: Some users might encounter a single sign-on (SSO) prompt in error and subsequent link to “Contact your institution." We recommend first trying a different browser or clearing cookies to see if doing so resolves the issue.
Access note: Not available to walk-in users.

States Perform
Sponsored by the Council of State Governments, this website aims to provide users "access to interactive, customizable and up to date comparative performance measurements for the 50 states." The data cover fiscal and economic matters, public safety and justice, energy and environment, transportation, health and human services, and education.

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Printed volumes available in Reference at Lincoln Park and Loop at R.317.3 U58S.
UNdata This link opens in a new window
Provides access to a variety of statistical databases from the United Nations. Covering a wide range of topics including Agriculture, Education, Employment, Energy, Environment, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Development, Industry, Information and Communication Technology, National Accounts, Population, Refugees, Tourism, Trade, as well as the Millennium Development Goals indicators.
Access note: Freely available to the public.
Extent: Multidisciplinary
World Bank This link opens in a new window
Extensive information on the five institutions that comprise the World Bank Group--their organization, mission, programs, quick facts and summaries of individual country activity.
Access note: Freely available to the public.

World Database of Happiness
Register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life, including a bibliography of more than 7,000 publications, 759 measures of happiness in more than 1,500 studies, and data covering 165 nations.