Related Online Resources

The following online sources contain campaign finance data, election datasets, studies, polls, and voting information.

Campaign Finance

Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, Senate, Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Search for a wide variety of campaign finance information, including contributions and spending by federal candidates and committees. Contains all statements, reports and notices that candidates and committees file. Provides bulk data for download.
OpenSecrets.org External
The Center for Responsive Politics tracks money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Find campaign contributions and expenditures of presidential and congressional candidates. Track campaign contributions by lobbyists, interest groups, PACs, organizations, and 527s.

Election Datasets and Studies

ANES: American National Election Studies External
A collaboration of Stanford University and the University of Michigan, producing data on voting, public opinion, and political participation. The ANES produces high quality data from its own surveys on voting, public opinion, and political participation. Data are available in the form of raw data and statement files that can be run using statistical software such as SAS, SPSS or Stata. The help page provides technical assistance on how to use the data on the ANES website.
Harvard Election Data Archive External
This archive contains data on election results, voting behavior, and electoral politics. The core data for the archive are state, county and district level election returns for all recent state and federal elections.
ICPSR: State Legislative Election Returns in the United States Series External
The State Legislative Election Returns series was developed by ICPSR and was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation. A major purpose of this data series was to extend detailed study of electoral and governmental processes in the United States to the state and local levels, and to encourage comparative analyses of voting patterns, political party competition, and partisan control between different states or regions. ICPSR's holdings of state legislative election returns data cover the years 1968-1989 (ICPSR 8907), and 1993-1994 (ICPSR 2019). The datasets include election returns at the district, county, constituency, and candidate levels for state legislative races contested in all 50 states in the United States. I
ICPSR: United States Historical Election Returns Series External
The United States Historical Election Returns series was developed by ICPSR and was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. ICPSR's holdings of historical election 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. ICPSR distributes three major general election data collections: United States Historical Election Returns, 1824-1968 (ICPSR 0001), General Election Data for the United States, 1950-1990 (ICPSR 0013), and United States Historical Election Returns, 1788-1823 (ICPSR 0079).
MIT Election Data and Science Lab External
The MIT Election Data and Science Lab is a clearinghouse for data sets on elections and how they are conducted. Find election data and research tools produced by MIT and others.
Polidata External
Polidata is a commercial source that sells political and demographic data sets, including presidential election results by congressional district and presidential election results by county. In addition, some academic libraries subscribe to the Polidata collection of election results.
University of Florida Election Lab External
The University of Florida Election Lab's mission is to provide timely and accurate statistics, software, reports, and other useful information, primarily regarding voting and elections in the United States. The site contains national and state voter turnout data for United States general elections. In addition, the Voting and Election Science Team (VEST) produces nationwide precinct boundary data enhanced with precinct election results for recent United States elections.

Polling

Polling Report External
An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion. Compiles election related polls from 1998 to the present.
Real Clear Politics External
Compiles the results of recent federal and state election polls. Provides links to the original source of the poll.
The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research: U.S. Elections External
The Roper Center provides primary, national, and state exit polling date for presidential elections from 1976 to the present. Membership is required in order to access much of the exit polling data available on this site.

Subscription Databases

Subscription databases marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library of Congress in person, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

Polling the Nations External This link opens in a new window
Compilation of the full-text of the questions and responses from over 12,000 national, state, and local surveys conducted by 700 polling organizations in the United States and more than 70 other countries. The database covers over 4,000 subjects, including: Business Current Events Demographics Economics Education Family Studies Health Sciences Law Marketing Planning Political Science Population Studies Psychology Public Affairs Public Health Public Opinion Social Issues Social Sciences Social Work Sociology and Statistics. Information is gathered by professional polling organizations, television networks, universities, newspapers, businesses and associations, including the Gallup Poll, the Roper Organization Poll and others.
The simultaneous user limit for this resource may result in temporary delays.
Roper Center iPoll External This link opens in a new window
Roper Center iPoll, produced by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University, is a collection of public opinion data from polls conducted by major United States and international polling organizations. Polls are produced by major news organizations (such as CBS, ABC, and the Associated Press), public opinion research centers (such as Gallup, Harris, and Pew), and major academic and commercial pollsters. Polls cover a variety of topics, including social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, science, the environment, and many more.

Voting and Registration

Center for American Women and Politics: Voters External
The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is nationally recognized as the leading source of scholarly research and current data about American women’s political participation. This site presents data and analysis of women's voting behavior, including statistics on turnout and the gender gap in voting.
U.S. Census Bureau: Voting and Registration
Voting and Registration data have been collected biennially by the U.S. Census Bureau in the November Current Population Survey (CPS). The statistics presented on this website are based on replies to survey inquiries about whether individuals were registered and/or voted in specific national elections. For the purpose of these estimates, election types are considered to be either congressional or presidential.
United States Election Project: Voter Turnout External
Dr. Michael McDonald, an Associate Professor at George Mason University, provides national and state voter turnout statistics from 1980 to the present. The site also presents voter turnout rates for presidential primaries from 2000 to the present.

U.S. Election Statistics: A Resource Guide

History, Humanities & Social Sciences: Ask a Librarian

Related Online Resources

Campaign Finance

Election Datasets and Studies

Polling

Voting and Registration