U.S. Elections: Data & Statistics
Presidential Election Data
- Counting the Votes, 1789-PresentDownloadable data on U.S. Presidential elections.
- Daily Kos Election Datasets, Presidential by Districts 2012-CurrentPresidential general election returns and some statewide returns by congressional district and state legislative district.
- United States Elections Project 1787-2018Contains: Voter Turnout Data ; Voter Turnout ; Demographics Precinct Data. Covers 1787-2018.
- U.S. President 1976–2020 (Dataverse)This data file contains constituency (state-level) returns for elections to the U.S. presidency from 1976 to 2020.
- Daily Kos Election Datasets, Presidential by Media Market, 1980-2016Presidential general election returns and some statewide offices (e.g., governor, senator, state attorney general, etc.) by media market.
- Daily Kos Election Datasets, Presidential by Districts 2000-2008Presidential general election returns and some statewide returns by congressional district and state legislative district.
- ICPSR data on Presidential elections, 1788-1990Data on presidential elections created by ICPSR
- Presidential Election Results 1976-2016Downloadable files for: Presidential Elections by Congressional District (1992-2016) and Presidential Elections by county (1976-2004)
- ICPSR Electoral Data for Counties. Presidential Races, 1840-1972County-level returns for elections to the presidency and Congress for the years 1840 to 1972.
Local Election Data
- Who Votes For Mayor? (Portland State University project)"Who Votes for Mayor? aims to answer these and other questions by providing important data and analytic tools to better understand which voices are heard at the ballot box, and how loudly." Covers recent municipal elections in largest US cities.
- Big-City US Mayoral Elections, 1990-2011 (Dataverse)Data from 1,264 elections in large cities ( over 133,000 population).
- County Government Elections, 1990-2014 (Dataverse)Covers county legislative elections and fiscal policies in medium and large counties with "10,708 elections in approximately 298 medium and large counties over the past 25 years."
- Mayoral Elections, 1950-2014 (Dataverse)Covers 9,131 mayoral elections in 1,016 cities.
Congressional Election Data
- U.S. Senate 1976–2020"This data file contains constituency (state-level) returns for elections to the U.S. Senate from 1976 to 2020."
- MIT Election Data Lab 1976-2018House and Senate returns by state and district, 1976-2018.
- U.S. ICPSR Historical Election Datasets, 1788-1990ICPSR data collection of county-level electoral returns, includes all parties and candidates.
- U.S. House 1976–2018 (Harvard Dataverse)This data file contains constituency (district) returns for elections to the House of Representatives from 1976 to 2018.
- Dataverse, U.S. House Primary Election Results (1956-2010)"Election return data from all Democratic and Republican primaries for the US House of Representatives for 1956-2010. Includes district-specific variables, as well as data about candidate backgrounds and gender in recent years. "
- Southern Primary and General Election Data, 1920–1972Senatorial election data, 1920-1972.
- ICPSR Congressional Races, 1840-1972County-level returns for elections to the United States House of Representatives 1840 to 1972.
- A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825Searchable election returns. Includes Senate and House. Can search by party, state, office, year, jurisdiction, and election type. Full datasets are downloadable.
Voter Turnout Data
- Voter Turnout National Turnout Rates, 1787-2018Turnout for presidential, gubernatorial, and congressional elections [Not at PSU - Borrow through SUMMIT]
- Roper National, State, and Primary Election Exit Polls (1972-Present)Questions about president, Congress, gubernatorial races, and other voting issues.
- Current Population Survey IPUMS Data 1994-presentIncludes voting registration data from Current Population Survey.
- Voting and Registration Supplement Tables (Census) 1960-currentIncludes voting, registration, and population data.
- African American Electorate: A Statistical History (1610-2008)Provides data on thee African American electorate
- Statistical History of the American Electorate [Print]"An account of American elections from 1788 through 1999."
- Social Explorer
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Includes Citizen Voting Age Population data back to 2000
State Election Data
- United States gubernatorial elections, 1776-1860 : the official results by state and county byCall Number: 3rd floor JK2447 .D83 2003
- Election Datasets, 2012- (Daily Kos)Includes data on governor, state attorney general, and other state-wide offices.
- State Legislative Election Returns, 1967-2016State legislative general election data at the district level.
- Judicial Elections Data 1990-2010Elections to state supreme courts.
- ICPSR U.S. Historical Election Returns Datasets, 1788-1990Covers most Gubernatorial elections, 1788-1990.
- ICPSR Election Datasets, 1788-1990Includes Gubernatorial Elections.
- Southern Primary and General Election Data, 1920–1972Gubernatorial election data, 1920-1972.
- ICPSR Electoral Returns for Statewide Offices in the United States, 1874-1952Returns for statewide offices (attorney general, secretary of state, lieutenant governor). Only covers: CA, CO, IN, MN, Mo, MT, NE, NY, ND , OH, OR, PA, SD, WV, and WI.
- ICPSR Referenda and Primary Election Materials"Summary View help for Summary
This data collection contains election returns at the county and state levels from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century for primary and general elections on statewide referenda, constitutional amendments, state House/Senate joint resolutions, and initiated measures. The ballot language of each measure is also included. County-level returns for most gubernatorial, senatorial, and congressional primary elections from 1910 to the present are documented as well." - Book of the States 2019, Chapter 6: ElectionsCompares state election practices (polling hours, registration, nominating candidates, etc)
- Dataverse Governors Dataset, 1961-2012Data on governors, terms, budgets, demographics of office holders. Some data goes bakc to 1936
- U.S. Officials' Job Approval Ratings Database (~1950s to 2009)"Depository for job approval ratings obtained at the state level for state governors, U.S. senators and U.S. presidents from the mid-1900s to 2009"
- State Legislator Gender and Race/Ethnicity Data (2005-2019)Data about gender, race, ethnicity of state legislators by state/year.
- A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787–1825Covers data on elections for state legislature, governor, mayors, and other officials.
General - Data & Statistics
- American National Election Studies (ANES)ANES conducts national surveys of the American electorate in presidential and midterm election years and carries out research on various issues on elections.
- Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House Representatives - Election StatisticsThis resource posts the official vote counts for presidential electors, U.S. senators, and U.S. Representatives for elections from 1920 to present.
- U.S. Census: Voting and RegistrationInformation on reported voting and registration by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics is collected for the nation in November of congressional and presidential election years in the Current Population Survey (CPS).
- U.S. General Election Exit Polls Series (ICPSR dataset)The General Election Exit Polls series is conducted by the National Election Pool (NEP) from results obtained from interviews of a sample of voters exiting polling places in individual states in the nation on election day. It provides data on voters' choices in the senate, congressional, and gubernatorial races, and the issues and factors that most influenced those votes, as well as their opinions on presidential candidates, various referendas and propositions on the ballot, and other issues.
- Record of American Democracy (ROAD), 1984-1990ROAD provides precinct-level election data for all federal and state races at and above State House for 1984-1990.
- PollsterTracks, aggregates, and analyzes polling data from major political polls. Coverage includes gubernatorial elections.
- Five Thirty EightOffering statistics on politics (and sports), Five Thirty Eight provides news articles and knowledge at a glance.
- Measuring Elections - DataverseA collection of readily available datasets from Pew Elections Performance Index and others.
- Sage DataContains national, state-level, and local level historical data for the areas of agriculture, crime and law enforcement, defense, economy, education, employment and labor, energy and environment, geography, government finances, health, households and housing, political science, population, social welfare as well as transportation. Replaces Sage Stats.
- PolicyMap
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Provides mapping, data, and analytics tools on U.S. demographics, real estate, health, jobs, education, and more topics. Mapping allows for multiple layers and editable data ranges. - CQ LibraryContains full text of CQ Researcher reports, CQ Magazine (formerly CQ Weekly, featuring bills and legislative actions) as well as reference works on politics, commerce, and the U.S. Congress.
- Social Explorer
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Social Explorer is an online research tool designed to access current and historical U.S. Census data and demographic information. It contains maps, profile reports, data elements, and variables. - Roper Center for Public Opinion ResearchMaintains abstracts and datasets for public opinion survey results from U.S. academic, commercial, and media opinion surveys. Download of datasets from Roper require that users create an account using a PSU email address.
- The Southern Voting ProjectData on voting, politics, and demographics in the American south from about 1950 to 2010. Data can be downloaded as .csv.