About Datasets
Datasets are collections of numeric data that can be analyzed using specialized software such as Stata, SPSS, or R.
Datasets marked with a blue lock 
must be accessed from either on the UC San Diego campus network or else via Remote Access.
Put some thought into choosing your search terms and consider synonyms or alternative terms. AND, OR, and NOT can be used to combine or exclude search terms. Check the subject terms listed on your results for additional words to search.
Most databases have a help link. The help screens will usually explain how to best search for variables.
Top Political & Social Science Data Resources
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The MacroDataGuideThe MacroDataGuide was developed by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services to save researchers and students time and energy in their search for high quality social science macro data. While the main distinction is most often drawn between micro and macro data, the term 'meso data' is also sometimes used. Meso data generally refers to data on collective and cooperative actors such as commercial companies, organizations or political parties.
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The Quality of Government Institute - QoG DatasetsThe flagship datasest is the QoG Standard Dataset, which is available in both cross-section and time-series. The QoG Basic Dataset is easier to use, offering the most used and the most qualitative variables in terms of data from the QoG Standard Dataset. The QoG OECD covers countries who are members of the OECD. The EU Regional Data consists of approximately 450 variables from Eurostat and other sources. The QoG Expert Survey is a dataset based on our survey of experts on public administration around the world.
See codebook for comprehensive list of links to political science datasets on almost any political topic you can think of.
Multidisciplinary Finding Tools
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DataCiteSearch for datasets across over 1000 different major data centers and repositories including ICPSR, Harvard Dataverse, Data-Planet, the California Digital Library, Figshare, Dryad, the Center for Open Science, UC San Diego Library Digital Collections, etc.
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Data-PlanetProvides easy access to statistical data. Data is downloadable in Excel and CSV, and shapefiles when multiple geographies are covered. Sources include: Bombay Stock Exchange, British Bankers' Association, Chicago Board Options, Exchange, China Data Center, D&B (Dun & Bradstreet), Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections, Defense Manpower Data Center, Deutsche Börse Group, Dow Jones, Easy Analytic Software Inc. (EASI), Eurostat, FTSE Group, HSI Services Limited (Hong Kong), International Monetary Fund, London Bullion Market Association , London Platinum & Palladium Market, NASDAQ OMX Group, National Bureau of Economic Research, Nikkei, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Standard & Poor's, World Bank, World Resource Institute, Xignite, and many US Federal agencies. See the Data-Planet Libguide for more detail.
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ProQuest Statistical Insight1973-present. Huge database of citations to statistical publications from U.S. federal and state governments, international agencies, nonprofit and educational institutions, and private publishers including trade and industry groups. Full text of the publication or report is often included, and many tables are downloadable in Excel. Particularly good for demographic and country-level information. Previous name Statistical Universe.
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ProQuest Statistical Abstracts of the WorldA collection of the statistical abstracts of various countries, both individually searchable and cross searchable. These statistical abstracts are generally issued by the national statistical offices of foreign governments and contain country-level data not easily found elsewhere. Global and regional statistical compendia issued by international organizations and research firms are also included.
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Statistical Abstract of the United States, ProQuest (2013- )Authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. The online version includes monthly updates to tables. This database replaces the previously-free Census Bureau publication (1878-2012). It uses many of the same, along with additional, data sources as the earlier editions.
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Census dataNOTE: Replaces American FactFinder.
Statistics collected by the Census Department:
American Community Survey
American Housing Survey
Annual Surveys of Governments
Census of Governments
Annual Economic Surveys
Decennial Census
Economic Census
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Tabulation
Population Estimates Program
Puerto Rico Community Survey -
Social Explorer1790-present. This site combines data from the U.S. Census of Population and Housing & the American Community Survey (ACS) with a user friendly interface, allowing the creation of maps & statistical tables. Census Tract boundaries are available back to 1940. Now also includes data on U.S. elections, business pattern, environmental summary, health, religion, and crime; the UK and Canadian censuses; Irish religious data; World Development Indicators, and EuroStat.
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SimplyAnalyticsSimplyAnalytics is a web-based mapping application that lets users quickly create professional-quality thematic maps and reports using demographic, business, and marketing data for the United States. Access limited to 5 simultaneous users. Try again later if refused. Includes EASI/MediaMark Research Incorporated (MRI) and Simmons LOCAL data packages. (formerly known as SimplyMap).
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The MacroDataGuideThe MacroDataGuide is a tool that has been especially developed by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services to save researchers and students time and energy in their search for high quality social science macro data. While the main distinction is most often drawn between micro and macro data, the term 'meso data' is also sometimes used. Meso data generally refers to data on collective and cooperative actors such as commercial companies, organizations or political parties.
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DataFinder from the Population Reference BureauA database with hundreds of variables for the US and the world.
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DataCiteSearch for datasets across over 1000 different major data centers and repositories including ICPSR, Harvard Dataverse, Data-Planet, the California Digital Library, Figshare, Dryad, the Center for Open Science, UC San Diego Library Digital Collections, etc.
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UC San Diego DataverseMiscellaneous datasets purchased for the UC San Diego community. Includes:
Data on Terrorist Suspects (DOTS)
Field (California) Poll, 1956 - [Latest Release]
International Country Risk Guide: Table 3B: Political Risk Points by Component
International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE), 1968 - [most recent]
Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) 1978-2003 [Repository Data]
POLIDATA Presidential Results by Congressional District (PRCD) -
Harvard DataverseAccess the world's largest collection of social science research data here by searching across or browsing through one of the virtual data archives (called "dataverses") listed below. Data is uploaded by researchers from around the world.
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ICPSR Data ArchiveThe Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. World's largest archive of social science data. Election data, opinion polls, more. Special collections on Health, Education, Aging, Crime, Substance Abuse. Raw data; no tables. To download data, create a personal account using your ucsd.edu email address while accessing the database from a UC San Diego computer, UCSD-PROTECTED wireless, or the VPN.
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Data Citation IndexIndexes research data, including data studies and data sets, and links them to the scientific literature to track data citation. Part of Web of Science.
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re3data.orgRegistry of research data repositories
International Statistics & Comparative Datasets
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The MacroDataGuideThe MacroDataGuide was developed by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services to save researchers and students time and energy in their search for high quality social science macro data. While the main distinction is most often drawn between micro and macro data, the term 'meso data' is also sometimes used. Meso data generally refers to data on collective and cooperative actors such as commercial companies, organizations or political parties.
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The Quality of Government Institute - QoG DatasetsThe flagship datasest is the QoG Standard Dataset, which is available in both cross-section and time-series. The QoG Basic Dataset is easier to use, offering the most used and the most qualitative variables in terms of data from the QoG Standard Dataset. The QoG OECD covers countries who are members of the OECD. The EU Regional Data consists of approximately 450 variables from Eurostat and other sources. The QoG Expert Survey is a dataset based on our survey of experts on public administration around the world.
See codebook for comprehensive list of links to political science datasets on almost any political topic you can think of. -
Comparative Agendas Project: Datasets & CodebooksThe Comparative Agendas Project (CAP) assembles and codes information on the policy processes of governments from around the world.
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Data hosted at Institutions Hub from the Centre for Global Economic HistoryDatasets include: Adjusted state antiquity dataset; Extraction ratio; Government revenues relative to GDP; Latent democracy indicator, 1850-2000; Conflict Catalog (Violent Conflicts 1400 A.D. to the Present in Different Regions of the World); Homicide dataset, 1800-2000.
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Integrated Network for Societal Conflict Research (INSCR) Data PageDatasets include:
Armed Conflict and Intervention (ACI) Datasets: Forcibly Displaced Populations; Major Episodes of Political Violence; PITF State Failure Problem Set; High Casualty Terrorist Bombings; Memberships in Conventional Intergovernmental Organizations (CIO)
Polity IV: Regime Authority Characteristics and Transitions Datasets: Polity IV Annual Time-Series; Polity IVd Polity-Case Format; Coups d'Etat
State Fragility Index and Matrix: State Fragility Index and Matrix; State Fragility Index and Matrix, Time-Series Data
Conflict in India Datasets: Crime in India: Riots, Murders and Dacoity; India Sub-National Problem Set -
Correlates of War datasetsThe Correlates of War project collects and disseminates quantitative data in international relations. Datasets include: COW Country Codes; State System Membership; COW War Data; Militarized Interstate Disputes; Militarized Interstate Dispute Locations; National Material Capabilities; World Religion Data; Formal Alliances; Territorial Change; Direct Contiguity; Colonial/Dependency Contiguity; Intergovernmental Organizations; Diplomatic Exchange; Trade.
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Cross National Time-Series (CNTS)The Cross-National Time-Series Data Archive was launched by Arthur S. Banks in the fall of 1968 at the State University of New York at Binghamton. The archive was, in part, the outcome of an effort initiated some years earlier to assemble, in machine readable, longitudinal format, certain of the aggregate data resources of The Statesman's Yearbook, published since 1864. The archive has almost 200 variables and contains data for over 200 country units, with provision for entries from 1815 (excluding the two modern wartime periods, 1914-1918 and 1940-1945)
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International Country Risk Guide: Table 3B: Political Risk Points by ComponentThe ICRG Researcher's Dataset - Table 3B provides annual averages of the 12 components of ICRG's Political Risk Ratings (Table 3B), as published in the International Country Risk Guide since 1984. Average ratings are provided for all countries covered by ICRG from 1984 through the last full calendar year.
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International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE), 1968 - [most recent]The ITERATE project is an attempt to quantify data on the characteristics of transnational terrorist groups, their activities which have international impact, and the environment in which they operate.
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SIPRI Databases
Facts on international relations and security trends
SIPRI multilateral peace operations database
SIPRI military expenditure database
SIPRI arms transfers database
SIPRI arms embargoes database
SIPRI national reports database -
Status of World Nuclear ForcesFrequently updated estimates from the Federation of American Scientists.
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Transparency International researchCorruption Perceptions Index
Global Corruption Barometer
Bribe Payers Index
United States Political Datasets & Statistics
Use these resources to find data and statistics on American politics.
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CQ Voting and Elections CollectionUnited States election voting reference works with downloadable elections data. Covers the American voter, to major and minor political parties, actual races for Congress, the Presidency, and governorships. Election data can be downloaded in csv or tsv and earliest date of coverage varies by office: President (national summary: 1789; county detail: 1920); Senate (national summary: 1908; county detail: 1968); Governor (national summary: 1824; county detail: 1967); House (national summary: 1824; district detail: 1968). More details in the CQ Libguide
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Data-PlanetProvides easy access to statistical data. Data is downloadable in Excel and CSV, and shapefiles when multiple geographies are covered. Sources include: Bombay Stock Exchange, British Bankers' Association, Chicago Board Options, Exchange, China Data Center, D&B (Dun & Bradstreet), Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections, Defense Manpower Data Center, Deutsche Börse Group, Dow Jones, Easy Analytic Software Inc. (EASI), Eurostat, FTSE Group, HSI Services Limited (Hong Kong), International Monetary Fund, London Bullion Market Association , London Platinum & Palladium Market, NASDAQ OMX Group, National Bureau of Economic Research, Nikkei, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Standard & Poor's, World Bank, World Resource Institute, Xignite, and many US Federal agencies. See the Data-Planet Libguide for more detail.
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Federal Election Commission election resultsIncludes Excel files, 2004+. Presidential and Senate by state; House by Congressional District.
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FDSys: Bulk DataCongressional Bills; Bill Status; Bill Summaries; Commerce Business Daily; Code of Federal Regulations (Annual Edition); Electronic Code of Federal Regulations; Federal Register; United States Government Manual; House Rules and Manual; Privacy Act Issuances; Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States; Supreme Court Decisions 1937-1975 (FLITE)
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Comparitive Agendas Project Data & Codebooks: United StatesMedia: Congressional Quarterly Almanac; New York Times Front Page; New York Times Index; New York Times Index Weights; TV News Policy Agenda Data
Parliamentary & Legislative: Congressional Bills; Congressional Hearings;Public Law Titles; Public Laws; Roll Call Votes; Prime Minister & Executive; Executive Orders; Presidential Veto Rhetoric; State of the Union Speeches
Political Parties:Democratic Party Platform; Republican Party Platform
Judiciary: Supreme Court Cases; Budget; Budget Authority (Adjusted); Budget Authority-Policy Crosswalk; Budget Outlays; Tax Expenditures
Public Opinion & Interest Groups: Encyclopedia of Associations; Gallup's Most Important Problem; Policy Moods -
the @unitedstates project@unitedstates is a shared commons of data and tools for the United States. Made by the public, used by the public. Featuring work from people with the Sunlight Foundation, GovTrack.us, the New York Times, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Internet
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Charles Stewart's Congressional Data PageLinks and citation info for multiple Congressional datasets:
Congressional Committees, 80th--102nd Congresses Garrison Nelson
Congressional Committees, Historical Standing Committees David Canon, Garrison Nelson, Charles Stewart III
Congressional Committees, Modern Standing Committees, 103rd--112th Congresses Charles Stewart III and Jonathan Woon
Candidate Quality and U.S. Senate Election Data David Lublin
Congressional District Demographic and Political Data David Lublin
Candidate Positioning Data Stephen Ansolabehere, James M. Snyder, and CharlesStewart III
Federal Elections Project David Lublin
House and Senate Party Voting Scores Joseph Cooper and Garry Young
House Committee Request Data Scott Frisch and Sean Kelly
Nominal and Adjusted Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) Voting Records, 1947-2007 Sarah Anderson (UCSB) and Philip Habel (SIUC)
Voteview Royce Carroll (Rice), James Lo (UCLA), Jeff Lewis (UCLA), Nolan McCarty (Princeton), Keith Poole (UCSD), and Howard Rosenthal (NYU).
Adjusted Interest Group Scores Timothy Groseclose (UCLA)
Jeff Lewis and Keith Poole's roll call downloads. Jeff Lewis and Keith Poole -
Voteview.com (NOMINATE and Related Data)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 position of voting Senators and Representatives.
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Statistical Abstract of the United States, ProQuest (2013- )Authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. The online version includes monthly updates to tables. This database replaces the previously-free Census Bureau publication (1878-2012). It uses many of the same, along with additional, data sources as the earlier editions.
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U.S. Officials' Job Approval Ratings (JARs)Cooperative Project of The University of Rochester, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, & George Washington University.
-State Governors 1958-2009 Database (Excel format) (updated 3/29/10)
Note: State Governors includes California Governor Davis recall support poll results.
- U.S. Senators 1978-2009 Database (Excel format)(updated 3/29/10)
- U.S. Presidents 1945-2009 Database (Excel format) (updated 3/29/10) -
Precinct-Level Election Data ProjectCollection of precinct-level results for as many U.S. elections as possible since 2000, linked to GIS boundary files of voting tabulation districts. Also visualized in the Stanford Election Atlas.
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Daily Kos ElectionsSkim through the blog for recent elections data such as
Gubernatorial Race Ratings
Senate Race Ratings
Document Collection
Presidential Vote by Legislative Districts
Presidential Vote by Congressional Districts
House Race Ratings
State government datasets
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Open StatesFrom the Sunlight Foundation. Select a state to start to research bills, review voting records, contact elected officials and more. Bulk data downloads are available.
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Klarner Politics - Data Made Publicly AvailableSTATE LEGISLATIVE ELECTION RETURNS DATASET
State legislative election returns for all 50 states from 1967 to 2016.
STATE ECONOMIC & GOVERNMENT FINANCE DATA
State level economic performance and state government tax and spending data.
GOVERNOR'S DATASET
Lists governors serving between
COMPETITIVENESS MEASURES: RANNEY INDEX & HOLDBROOK & VAN DUNK INDEX
Covers these indexes from 1970 to 2010.
STATE PARTISAN BALANCE DATA, 1937-2011
Contains variables measuring the number of Democrats and Republicans in both chambers of the state legislature and governor's office from 1937 to 2011. Others track majority party control, and veto, tax, and budget supermajorities. -
Elections: Gubernatorial and State LegislaturesFrom the 2012 (and final) Statistical Abstract
416 - Number of Governors by Political Party Affiliation
417 - Vote Cast for and Governor Elected by State
418 - Political Party Control of State Legislatures by Party
419 - Composition of State Legislatures by Political Party Affiliation
U.S. Polling/Election/Survey Data
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American National Election Studies (ANES)The National Election Studies series is one of the premier sources for data on voting behavior and political attitudes in the post-WWII United States. Upon registering (which is free), users can download data and SAS/SPSS/Stata program files and documentation for any of the various ANES studies. The SDA Archive at UC-Berkeley also allows users to access recent versions of the ANES and search at the variable level as well as conduct online analyse
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The Field (California) PollCalifornia statewide survey of opinions and attitudes on social and political issues. Selected surveys and questions are repeated over time so changes in public opinion can be monitored. The UCSD data collection consists of surveys conducted regularly since 1956.
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CQ Voting and Elections CollectionUnited States election voting reference works with downloadable elections data. Covers the American voter, to major and minor political parties, actual races for Congress, the Presidency, and governorships. Election data can be downloaded in csv or tsv and earliest date of coverage varies by office: President (national summary: 1789; county detail: 1920); Senate (national summary: 1908; county detail: 1968); Governor (national summary: 1824; county detail: 1967); House (national summary: 1824; district detail: 1968). More details in the CQ Libguide
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GDELT ProjectSupported by Google Ideas, the GDELT Project monitors the world's broadcast, print, and web news from nearly every corner of every country in over 100 languages and identifies the people, locations, organizations, counts, themes, sources, emotions, counts, quotes and events driving our global society every second of every day, creating a free open platform for computing on the entire world.
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General Social Survey (GSS)The GSS measures public opinion in the United States on a wide variety of topics of interest to social scientists. The survey, which began in the early 1970's, provides a (nearly) annual perspective on American attitudes toward government, life, race, religion, and other social issues.
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Pew Research CenterThe Pew Research Center is a major center for the study of public opinion and regularly conducts polls (both at home and abroad) about various social and political topics and contemporary issues. They make many of their studies available for download here. Many of the more recent data files are in SPSS format. Users are required to register before downloading a dataset, but registration is free.
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Roper Center for Public Opinion ResearchThe Roper Center is one of the country's premier centers for polling data. The iPOLL interface may be of particular use because it allows users to search through surveys at the question level.
Featured Resource
Need to find statistics that might be hiding in a publication?
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ProQuest Statistical Insight1973-present. Huge database of citations to statistical publications from U.S. federal and state governments, international agencies, nonprofit and educational institutions, and private publishers including trade and industry groups. Full text of the publication or report is often included, and many tables are downloadable in Excel. Particularly good for demographic and country-level information. Previous name Statistical Universe.
Featured Resource
Need easy to manipulate statistical information over time?
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Data-PlanetProvides easy access to statistical data. Data is downloadable in Excel and CSV, and shapefiles when multiple geographies are covered. Sources include: Bombay Stock Exchange, British Bankers' Association, Chicago Board Options, Exchange, China Data Center, D&B (Dun & Bradstreet), Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections, Defense Manpower Data Center, Deutsche Börse Group, Dow Jones, Easy Analytic Software Inc. (EASI), Eurostat, FTSE Group, HSI Services Limited (Hong Kong), International Monetary Fund, London Bullion Market Association , London Platinum & Palladium Market, NASDAQ OMX Group, National Bureau of Economic Research, Nikkei, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Standard & Poor's, World Bank, World Resource Institute, Xignite, and many US Federal agencies. See the Data-Planet Libguide for more detail.