Skip to Main Content

Primary Sources

Public Opinion

Domestic

Gallup Poll News Service and Gallup.com
The Gallup Organization has been conducting public opinion polls across the country since 1935. The library has multiple means of accessing Gallup Poll data:

  • Much of Gallup's recent polling data and reports is available for free on their websiteSee also "Trends A-Z" for historical data and trends on dozens of topics.
  • The Gallup Poll News Service Articles from the Gallup Poll News Service analyze findings and trends in politics, business, social issues, and Americans' lifestyles. Two weeks lag-time.
  • A CD of survey questions and results covering the period from 1935-1997 is available at the Gleeson Circ. Desk:  HN90.P8 G295 2000. A cumulative index to the Gallup Poll for the years 1935-1997 is shelved at HN90.P8 G29 1999.

PollingReport.com
An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion. Use this website to find the results of recent surveys from prominent polling agencies.

Harris Poll
Discover and explore over 40 years of Harris Poll reports, dating back to the Harris Poll’s inception in 1963.  

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) - Statewide Survey
The PPIC Statewide Survey delivers objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents.

Washington Post Public Opinion Polls 
Get the latest results of polls conducted by the Washington Post. For older polls see the archive.

Marist Poll The Marist Institute for Public Opinion (MIPO) is a survey research center at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1978, MIPO is home to the Marist Poll and regularly measures public opinion at the local, state, and national level.

ANES: American National Election Studies 
ANES produces high quality data from its own surveys on voting, public opinion, and political participation. See "Tables and Graphs" for easy access to the data.

Pew Research Center
This is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues.

Program for Public Consultation
Conducts surveys of public attitudes in the United States and in other countries, using innovative methods such as policy making simulations. It also maintains the WorldPublicOpinion.org website and network and conducts international polls for BBC World Service.

Critical Issues Poll
The University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll probes domestic and international issues that are central for our policy discourse. It includes foreign policy questions, especially those related to the Middle Eastern region, and economic and political domestic issues such as race issues, demographic changes in the United States, among other issues. Our aim is to probe those issues in a timely fashion in order to engage ongoing policy debates.

HuffPost Pollster
If you're looking for polls relating to U.S. politics, this is a great source.  HuffPost Pollster, formerly known as Pollster.com, publishes a comprehensive listing of poll results combined into interactive charts. The Pollster blog provides a daily running commentary that explains and critiques political polling.

The Field Poll
The Field Poll began in 1947 as an independent, non-partisan, media-sponsored public opinion news service and has issued over 2,400 different reports since that time. During its long history, The Field Poll acquired a national reputation as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of public opinion trends in California. Unfortunately, The Field Poll closed at the end of 2016. While The Field Poll has closed, the archive of data sets and press releases is still available.

International

World Public Opinion.org
The WorldPublicOpinion.org website provides information and analysis about public opinion on international policy issues from around the world. 

World Values Survey
The World Values Survey (WVS) is a worldwide network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life. The WVS in collaboration with EVS (European Values Study) has carried out representative national surveys in 97 societies containing almost 90 percent of the world's population. In order to monitor changes, the EVS/WVS has executed five waves of surveys, from 1981 to 2007.

Latin American Public Opinion Project
LAPOP conducts surveys of public opinion in the Americas, with over thirty years of experience. Every two years it carries out the AmericasBarometer survey, which currently covers 26 nations including all of North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

Chicago Council on Global Affairs
While known for its studies of American public opinion on foreign policy, The Chicago Council also contributes to national and international discussions on issues such as migration, agricultural development and food security, and energy and climate change. 

Asian Barometer
The Asian Barometer is an applied research program on public opinion on political values, democracy, and governance around the region.  See the "Publications" section for survey results examining daily life in East, Southeast, South and Central Asia.

Passport: Consumer Lifestyles (from Euromonitor)
Choose "Consumers" and then "Lifestyles" from the menu at the top of Passport's homepage to access data and analysis from consumer surveys worldwide, involving thousands of individual consumers in emerging and developed markets. Data and reports cover the entirety of consumer life, including healthy living, technology, spending, personal traits and values, delivering globally comparable consumer insight across markets.

Eurobarometer
The Standard Eurobarometer was established in 1974. Each survey consists of approximately 1000 face-to-face interviews per country. Reports are published twice yearly. Special Eurobarometer reports are based on in-depth thematic studies carried out for various services of the European Commission or other EU Institutions and integrated in the Standard Eurobarometer's polling waves.

Ask A Librarian