Political Opinion & Survey Data Sources

Designed to enable a crossnational comparison of values and norms on a wide variety of topics and to monitor changes in values and attitudes across the globe. WVS has had seven waves (1981-2022). You can download the full datasets for each wave or a longitudinal file covering all waves (click Data & Documentation on the left). You can also analyze them online.

The ISSP is a cross-national survey program conducting annual surveys in a broad group of countries. The survey asks questions on a variety of topics. Individual years link to GESIS where full datasets can be downloaded. Also has links to its 50 member states, which often provide additional national public opinion.

Collaborative survey project covering six regions: Africa (Afrobarometer), East and Southeast Asia (Asian Barometer), South Asia (South Asia Barometer), Central and South America (Latinobarómetro), the Middle East (Arab Barometer), and countries of former Soviet Union (Eurasia Barometer). Measures attitudes about politics, power, reform, democracy, etc. Two pooled waves (2005-2011 and 2011-2013) based on a common module of questions contained in the regional barometer surveys. Download the dataset or analyze online.

In addition to the iPoll question databank, the Roper Center provides access to more than 10,000 international surveys. You can search by keyword, by topic, by country, or by organization. However, it doesn't search at the question level.

The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project conducts public opinion surveys around the world on a broad array of subjects ranging from people’s assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day. Over 600,000 interviews in 69 countries have been conducted since 2001 as part of the project’s work. Their International Affairs topic page has more recent survey reports with detailed tables. Individual response datasets are usually available 2 years after the report.

Compilation of public opinion surveys conducted in the United States and more than 80 other countries. Searches at the question level; you can also browse by topic or country. Only provides summary response totals.

The Voice of the People Survey Series is WIN/Gallup International Association's End of Year survey and is a global study that collects the public's view on the challenges that the world faces today. Conducted in approximately 50 countries, with a minimal sample size of 500 per country, topics include the economic situation in their country, their personal happiness, the most important problem facing the world today, the role of religion in their country, which country they would like to live in, female politicians, which country is the greatest threat to world peace, and corruption within their country. Data in multiple formats.

WorldPublicOpinion.org is an international collaborative project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the Univ of Maryland. Provides polling data and analysis from numerous sources. Full datasets through 2012 can be downloaded from http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/10117.

USIA was a US executive branch agency charged with supporting and communicating US foreign policy, interests, and values abroad. The Roper Center has a collection of nearly 1250 USIA datasets from the 1950s to the early 2000s covering opinion in more than 75 countries. Topics covered include USIA projects, like the Voice of America radio broadcast, attitudes about democracy, communism, the United States, the Soviet Union, NATO, nuclear weapons, and international trade and economic issues.

IRI--a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization funded primarily by grants from the US State Dept. and National Endowment for Democracy--has polled more than 1.5 million citizens through more than 1,000 polls in over 100 countries on a variety of political topics, including support for democracy, political inclusion, political violence, and more. Survey reports can be filtered by country.

A longstanding survey of public opinion in the EU and candidate countries. You can create tables by searching through questions and comparing countries responses over time. They also publish analyses of each wave of the survey. Use the Eurobarometer Question Search to find if and when a topic was covered on the Eurobarometer. Also includes a a guide to topical trends over time. Many waves are also available in ICPSR. 1970+

Biennial multi-country survey covering over 30 nations. The 1st round was fielded in 2002/2003, the 10th was completed in 2020. It monitors change and continuity in a wide range of social, political, moral, health, and demographic variables. You can download full datasets or analyze them online, after a free registration.

The European Values Study is a large-scale, cross-national, and longitudinal survey research program on how Europeans think about life, family, work, religion, politics, and society. Surveys were done in 1981, 1990, 1999, and 2008. You can download full datasets or analyze online after a free registration. For background on the EVS and associated publications, see http://www.europeanvaluesstudy.eu/

Aggregates hundreds of polls from firms to provide a daily snapshot of party preferences in 30 European countries and the European Parliament. Trends generally back to 2014. Read about the methodology.

GitHub repository that scrapes aggregate opinion results of political party preferences from major domestic polling firms across Europe. Covers more than 30 countries generally 2018-present of weekly results. Data in pipe-delimited text files.

Six wave survey conducted between 2012 and 2014 in the Southern and Eastern EU Neighbourhood countries, from Morocco to Lebanon (Syria was not surveyed), and from Azerbaijan to Belarus, plus Russia. 1000 face-to-face interviews covering perception of living conditions, political issues, political efficacy across the region, attitudes toward the EU, and other topics. Data in SPSS and Stata; documentation in English.

Annual survey in the Russian Federation, 1992–2012. Each survey has a nationwide sample of 1600 to 2000 respondents. Topics include political, economic, and social affairs. For more information, see the CSPP pages. Spreadsheets of monthly trend files from the surveys can be accessed through the Russia Votes site and online analysis is available for each wave plus a multi-wave trend file.

Includes nearly all the countries of East Central, East, and Southeast Europe, 1991–2005. Topics include evaluations of and attitudes to the economic, political, and social transformations of the region after the end of communism. For more information, see the CSPP pages.

Surveys of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, 1993–2004 with a focus on the different nationalities in the Baltics. Asks representative samples of each nationality similar sets of questions about their multiple identities, language use, political attitudes, economic behavior, and social conditions. For more information, see the CSPP pages.

German Marshall Fund study since 2003 of United States and European public opinion on a host of transatlantic issues, including foreign policy challenges, support for NATO, the economy, and the rise of other world powers with an aim to foster debate on the strategic policy goals, objectives, and values of the United States and Europe as members of the transatlantic community. Full datasets through 2014 are available through the Roper Center as well as ICPSR.

Measures the social, political and economic atmosphere in Africa. Beginning with 12 countries in Round 1 (1999–2001), it now conducts surveys in nearly 40 countries (and 115 languages) comprising 76% of Africa's population. See coverage by country. Data in SPSS for individual countries as well as a merged file; documentation in English. Online analysis is available, and geocoded data for some countries and rounds are available by application.

Survey designed to assess citizen attitudes in the Arab world on such topics as: support for democratic institutions, political interest and participation, attitudes toward terrorism and political violence, conceptions and interpretations of Islam, the relationship between religion and politics, and attitudes toward Middle East international relations. 5 waves, 2006-2019. Downloads in multiple formats or can be analyzed online. Also available through ICPSR.

Covers 8–14 countries in East Asia in multiple waves (2001–03; 2005–08; 2010–12; 2014–16); and 2 waves for 5 South Asian countries. Topics include economic evaluations; trust in institutions, political participation, media use, political evaluations; socio-political values, and views on international relations. Data in SPSS; free, but requires individual application. Online analysis available for waves 1 & (part of) 2.

Annual household survey about social, economic, and political issues and attitudes in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, 2008–2015. Also includes additional surveys of public attitudes to policies and institutions in Georgia. Data in SPSS and Stata; documentation in English. Can also be analyzed online.

Covers all Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) with 8 waves conducted twice a year since 2017. The core part of the questionnaire remains the same each wave. Topics include attitudes towards foreign countries, international organizations and domestic politics, including elections, government policies, media usage, public health, security and economy. Data is freely available after a 2 year embargo period in Excel, Stata, and SPSS formats.

Latinobarómetro is an annual public opinion survey that involves some 19,000 interviews in 18 Latin American countries (also includes Spain for most years) from 1995–2015. Datasets in multiple formats; results can also be analyzed online.

Public opinion surveys conducted by the survey research community in Latin America. To date, the collection holds nearly 1,200 studies from 16 countries, with the largest contributions coming from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, primarily 1990s forward.

Covers 29 countries in East, Southeast, South, and Central Asia (15 in two or more waves), 2003–2007. Topics include governance, democratic consolidation/regression, social values, happiness, quality of life, religiosity, mass media, identity, and globalization. Data is available, but must be requested first. (NOTE: Site appears to be down; ICPSR has waves 1&2 (2003-04)

Contains numerous surveys under its "Public Opinion Programme" relating to topics like popularity of the government, parties, and various leaders; ethnic identity; trust and confidence indicators; approval of policies; most important problems; feelings toward other governments; etc. Data viewable as charts and tables and downloadable to .csv.

Our Data and Statistical Services catalog has for additional public opinion polls that can be filtered by country or region..

Collaboration among election study teams to field a common module of survey questions in their post-election studies. Produces a single merged comparative dataset covering 55 countries over 5 waves (1996–present), with approx. 30 countries participating in 2 or more waves, and 25 in 4 or more waves. Also available for download via GESIS.

60 election surveys from 1990 to 2019 in 30 different countries on 5 continents, with multiple election surveys in 16 countries. Topics include personal networks, use of the mass media, socio-political values, democracy, civic participation, integrity of the electoral process, and voting behavior in the most recent election. Includes original country datasets plus a merged data set that includes the common questions from 48 surveys (through 2018). Documentation in English; datasets in SPSS.

Dataset consisting of all the national election studies documented in English from Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, 1960–1998. Data in SPSS and Stata; documentation in English. There is a processing fee for ordering this dataset.

1979–2019. Post-election surveys of electoral participation and voting behavior in European Parliament elections as well as citizens’ perceptions of and preferences about the EU and their evaluations of EU political performance. Also includes content analyses of party manifestos (“Euromanifestos”), elite surveys, and content analyses of election media coverage. 1000 respondents from each EU member country. Data can be downloaded in SPSS and Stata or analyzed online. GESIS also has a collection of Eurobarometer and other surveys covering EP elections (click Other Studies).

Data on candidates running for national parliamentary elections in 30+ countries (mostly European) using a common core questionnaire. Topics include political background and activities; campaigning; views on issues/policies, democracy, and representation; demographics and country data. Currently, two completed 5 year waves; third in process. Data is free, but requires registration.

A pre- and post-wave panel survey conducted during the 2015 general election campaign in Argentina. The survey covers topics such as vote choice, partisanship, candidate evaluations, clientelism, corruption, economic policy, security, and media attention. The survey will also form part of the CSES.

Run in conjunction with Australian Federal elections, the AES fields surveys among a nationally representative sample of voters and among major party candidates standing for election (the latter is the Australian Candidate Study). Both the voter and candidate instruments combine a common set of questions. 1987–2019 (with a related precursor series going back to 1967). Data in Stata and SPSS formats. You can find related opinion polls in the Australian Data Archive.

Uses a pre-post election panel survey and a rolling-cross-section survey with a panel component to investigate voter attitudes and behavior. Additional modules include detailed quantitative analyses of party manifestos; party leader statements in the news media; party press releases and communications; and content analysis of the coverage of Austrian politics and politicians in print, TV, and online news media during the eight weeks before the day of the election. 2002–2017. Data in SPSS and Stata; most documentation in English.

Post-election surveys in conjunction with Belgian federal elections, 1991–2014. Data is not available online, but try contacting the listed project leads on the staff page. Data may also be requested for studies through 2010 from the Pole Interuniversitaire Opinion publique et Politique.

Electoral panel surveys with pre- and post-election waves conducted in conjunction with Belgian regional elections in 2009 and federal elections in 2014. Also includes an exit poll for the 2012 municipal elections. Codebook is in English; data is free but must be requested. NOTE: site is currently down; try contacting the project leads at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

Post-election survey in connection with national presidential and parliamentary elections; 5 waves 2002–2018. Included in CSES modules 2–4. Must register to download data; documentation in Portuguese only. The public opinion database also includes hundreds of other Brazilian surveys that ask about elections.

The BES conducts a face-to-face survey to obtain responses from a representative sample of the general population after the election (and also before in a few instances). There is panel data for many years, esp. the most recent. Starting in 2001, the BES also began collecting daily campaign data (or "rolling thunder" data) during the official ‘short’ 30 day election campaign. These are daily cross-sections and sometimes also include a panel component where respondents were interviewed once before the election, once during and then once again after the election. 1964–2019. Data in SPSS and Stata. The UK has many public opinion sources; see this listing from the UK Data Archive. Some key studies include the British Social Attitudes Survey and Understanding Society.

1965–2019. The CES has typically included a rolling cross-section pre-election survey with post-election panel data on 50% or more of the original sample. Data is in SPSS, Stata, and CSV and documentation is in both English and French. Data can be analyzed online via the <odesi> archive; under Elections & Politics category. <odesi> contains additional Canadian public opinion, including a series of Ontario Election Studies (1968–2007) and Gallup polls (1940s–2000s).

Long-running series of national public opinion surveys that regularly includes many political questions, 1997–present. Participates in the ISSP. Data in SPSS.

Some pre-election and exit polls, 1996–2017. Click ČSDA, then Česky, then Volební výzkumy. See also the monthly polls under IVVM (1989–2000) and CVVM (2000+), which always have questions on political preferences and ideology self-classification as well as other political topics. Data can be analyzed online or downloaded after a free registration. Most polls have only Czech documentation.

Nationwide representative surveys of voters after each general parliamentary election, 1971–2011 (2015 can be requested). The main purpose of the studies is to identify the main reasons why voters vote as they do and to analyze changes in the electorate over time. Data can be analyzed online or complete files downloaded in multiple formats. (Click on "Election Studies" in left panel.) Documentation is in English.

Post-election surveys in conjunction with lower house parliamentary elections, 1967+. Core questions have remained largely unchanged over the years, covering expectations and evaluations of government, the most important problems facing the people of the Netherlands, voting behavior and participation history, and knowledge of and faith in the nation's political leaders. Data in SPSS; documentation in English.

Series of election studies covering the emergence of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe conducted by the Social Science Research Center Berlin, 1990s (primarily). Data can be analyzed online or downloaded in multiple formats; documentation in English.

Post-election poll conducted after parliamentary elections, 2003–2011. Data in Stata, SPSS, or .csv. Free, but must be requested.

Collected after parliamentary elections. Main themes include political participation, political attitudes, candidate and party choice, voting, and election campaigning. English documentation available; 2003–2015 (a pre/post 1991 survey by a previous team is also available). Survey questions and frequencies can be explored online. Additional surveys related to Finnish political behavior and attitudes are available.

Online analysis of French post-election surveys since 1958; documentation in French only (earlier years listed as Enquêtes électorales françaises). Datasets can be requested via the Réseau Quetelet.

The GLES surveys enable the investigation of attitudes, opinions, and political behavior of voters and candidates in German federal elections. GLES also collected data on media coverage for the federal elections in 2009, 2013, and 2017. In addition to cross-sectional samples, GLES incorporates both short- (within an election period) and long-term (across elections) panels. Prior, and in addition to GLES, scores of 40 German national election surveys have been conducted since 1949 in conjunction with federal parliamentary elections. Many of these have been panel studies covering pre- and post-election waves.

Post-electoral survey of the Greek parliamentary elections in 4 waves, 2009-2015 (including both elections in 2015). Also includes candidate surveys and data from an online voting advice application. Data in SPSS; archived at ICPSR (linked from site).

Pre- and post-election surveys around the legislative council, chief executive, and by-elections in Hong Kong, 2015-present. Data in SPSS and Stata. 2015 available online; other years available on request. The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) also has numerous surveys under its "Public Opinion Programme" relating to topics like popularity of the government, parties, and various leaders; ethnic identity; trust and confidence indicators; approval of policies; most important problems; feelings toward other governments; etc. Data viewable as charts and tables and can be downloaded to .csv. (Some surveys have microdata available under the Datasets tab.)

Post-election panel survey, 2003–2006. Choose "elections" in keyword search box. Data in SPSS. Additional Hungarian surveys of political attitudes (1980s+; some documentation only in Hungarian) available through the TÁRKI data archive using the keyword "mass political behaviour". Requests are free for ICPSR members.

1983–2016. Post-election cross-sectional telephone survey. Data in SPSS. Can also be analyzed online. Documentation is in English.

Conducted after national parliamentary elections in 1967, 1971, 1979 (pre-election poll only), and 1985. After a decade-long gap, the surveys have been conducted at each general election since 1996 and feature much larger sample sizes as well as a 6 wave panel covering the 1996–1999 elections. Raw datasets do not appear to be available for the studies from 1996 on, but tables can be requested for a fee from the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

Five-wave panel survey encompassing the Irish general elections of 2002 and 2007 as well as the local and European Parliament elections of 2004. A 2011 wave incorporating module 4 of the CSES is in process. The Irish Public Opinion Archive contains crosstabs for a wide selection of Irish commercial polls from 1970–2009; some of the poll datasets (in SPSS) from this period can be downloaded from the Irish Elections Data Archive.

1969–2019. The INES has varied between a pre-election cross-sectional survey and a two-wave pre- and post-election panel and since 1996 has used a stratified sample of Jews and Arabs. 2019 is a 4 wave pre/post panel covering the April and September elecitons. Data in SPSS and Stata; English documentation is available.

1968–2018. ITANES has been primarily a post-election cross-sectional telephone survey, though recent iterations have included pre- and post-election panels. Data in SPSS; includes English documentation.

Social Science Japan Data Archive collection of election surveys, 1963–2017. Data is generally free, but users must register and request first. Data and documentation in Japanese only. The Roper Center also has a large collection of Japanese polls, primarily by Nikkei Research and the USIA, which regularly include questions on elections, government evaluations, and party preferences, 1953+. The Japanese General Social Survey, 2000–2012, also asks questions about party preferences and government evaluation and has English documentation. The UTokyo-Asahi Survey (UTAS) run by Masaki Taniguchi at University of Tokyo has both voter and candidate surveys from 2003–19.

Post-election surveys in conjunction with presidential and national assembly elections in South Korea, 1992+. Click on Browse by Series, then choose the desired election type. Documentation in English; data in SPSS. (Local election surveys and additional years of the others are available through the Korean version of the site.) The Korean General Social Survey, 2003–2016, also asks questions about party preferences and government evaluation and has English documentation.

Conducted for the first time in 2012. Post-election survey that also included a pre/post internet panel, media campaign monitoring, and a candidate survey. Documentation in Lithuanian only; data in SPSS or can be analyzed online. Additional post-election polls for 2004, 2008, and 2009 parliamentary and presidential elections are available.

Postelectoral surveys extending the CSES common modules for presidential and legislative elections 1997-2015 (2012+ have pre-electoral waves). Data in SPSS. El Laboratorio Nacional de Políticas Públicas (LNPP) del Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) also provides access to numerous other Mexican political surveys.

Postelectoral surveys conducted after the 2012 and 2016 parliamentary elections. 2012 only included questions from CSES, but 2016 included additional national questions. Data is free, but must be requested. An online analysis tool is also available.

1990–2017. Primarily a post-election survey, though some years have had a pre-post panel and there have been some post-election panels across elections. Typically has included a Maori oversample. Allows for exploration of the effects of NZ's shift in 1996 from a first past the post electoral system to a mixed member proportional system. Site also includes historical election data for NZ. Also available through the Univ. of Auckland's figshare site.

Conducted in connection with parliamentary elections, 1957+. Includes several panel surveys and some cumulative trend files. Data in multiple formats; English documentation available. No cost, but must be requested. Also available for online analysis. Site includes surveys related to local elections (1995–2011) and among immigrants with voting rights (1987–2013).

Post-election polls in conjunction with parliamentary elections, 1997–2011. The 2005 elections coincided with presidential elections, so that year's study is a two-wave panel. 1997–2005 has English documentation; 2011 only in Polish. CBOS provides time-series trends of evaluations of government and the political situation in Poland since 1989 in English (can be downloaded to Excel).

Post-election surveys conducted in conjunction with both parliamentary and presidential elections, 2002–2015. Can be analyzed online (2002 title is As eleições legislativas de 2002- Inquérito pós-eleitoral). See also Portuguese Elections and Political Representation Project, which included multiple voter surveys covering a range of political topics (2006, 2008, 2012), with data in SPSS and documentation in English.

Postelectoral survey in conjunction with presidential and European elections in 2009. Documentation in Romanian only; data in SPSS. Additional polls with questions about electoral preferences are available for 2011 and in a semi-annual Public Opinion Barometer, 1994–2007.

Series of election surveys organized by Timothy Colton at Harvard Univeristy, 1999-2012. The 1995–1996 study is available through ICPSR. See also an online analysis option for a 7 wave pre/post panel study in conjunction with parliamentary and presidential elections in 2011–2012 in Russian only. (Other election-related polls are also available.) Individual question trends from VCIOM's (Russian Public Opinion Research Center) All Russia "Express" poll, 1992-2017 and rating trends on politicians and institutions. VCIOM also archives its daily "Sputnik" poll with Roper as well as on its own page (July 2018+).

The SES has generally used a pre- and post-election panel design, although studies since 2011 have also included a panel of respondents from the previous election study. 1999-2021; data is available via application through the UK Data Archive.

Slovenia has participated in multiple rounds of the CSES but doesn't have a separate national election study. The Slovenian Data Archive provides access to analyze and download multiple polls with political content: SJM - Slovene Public Opinion Survey (yearly from 1968–1988; 2-4 times a year thereafter) participates in the ISSP and European Social Survey and always includes questions on Slovenian politics;PB - Politbarometer (monthly, 2000-2014) covers evaluations of the government and party preferences among other topics; SUTR - Slovenian pulse (monthly, 2009-2014) covers democracy, Europe, political orientations, and political party preferences. Study titles and abstracts in English; all other documentation in Slovenian.

Polls in conjunction with elections in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2009, and 2015. Pre-2000 are pre-electoral; post-2000 are post-electoral surveys. Project participates in both CNEP and CSES. See also the South African Social Attitudes Survey, 2003+, which asks a battery of political questions, and the South African Voter Participation Survey 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2018 pre-electoral surveys evaluating voting behavior and interest. Additional surveys on attitudes toward sociopolitical change in the 1980s and 1990s are available from the South African Data Archive (site down as of Jan 2020).

Archive of pre- and post-electoral surveys in Spain run in conjunction with national parliamentary, regional, municipal, and European Parliament elections, 1960s+. Also, access to monthly barometers of Spanish opinion, which field a set of questions on political attitudes and vote intentions each quarter. Full datasets can be downloaded or analyzed online (Spanish interface only); documentation in Spanish only. See also the "Public Opinion of Spaniards Survey", monthly 1986-2011.

Run in conjunction with all parliamentary elections since 1956. Since 1973, has been a rolling panel in which half of the sample has been interviewed in connection with the previous election and the other half in connection with the succeeding election. (2014 and 2018 completed but not yet available.) Also includes surveys in conjunction with major referendums; European Parliament elections; a series on media election coverage; SVT exit polls, 1991–present; and the annual Society, Opinion, Media (SOM) survey, which includes many politics questions, 1986–present. Data in multiple formats; English documentation available. Free, but must be ordered.

Post-election survey in conjunction with national parliamentary elections, 1995+. Some years include panel and candidate surveys. SELECTS has also compiled a cumulative post-election survey file covering various opinion polls with election-related content from 1971–2007. See also the Voto (and its predecessor VoxIt) post-federal referendum survey, 1981+. Documentation primarily in German and French; though some is in English.

Cross-sectional, post-election surveys in conjunction with presidential, legislative, and municipal elections in Taiwan, 2001+. Most have documentation in English; data in SPSS (users must register first). Several waves included CSES modules, though these include additional questions not in the CSES data. Also available from the Taiwan Survey Research Data Archive (which also includes around 50 additional election surveys. Available for online analysis (must register first).