Research Guides: American Elections: Opinion Polls

Polls new and old

Pew Research Center U.S. Elections & Voters
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions.
Roper Center Election Polling Overview
The Roper Center holds the most comprehensive collection of U.S. election-related polling data including the National Election Pool and Votecast exit polls, earlier media-sponsored exit polls, pre-election opinion polls, as well as the federally funded ANES (American National Election Studies), CES (Congressional Election Study), and the newest addition, the CMS (Collaborative Midterm Survey). Each of these surveys utilizes a different methodology and therefore each has strengths and weaknesses.
Latest Polls - FiveThirtyEight
"FiveThirtyEight’s frequently-updated polling database provides results from thousands of polls (and hundreds of pollsters) on the current presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial elections. Those datasets — plus historical polling averages for presidential elections since 1980 — are available to download. The files list each poll’s sample size, methods, timeframe, FiveThirtyEight pollster rating, and more." - Jeremy Singer, Data is Plural
RealClear Politics Latest Polls
Aggregates latest polls from a wide variety of sources on national and state elections
Quinnipiac University Poll
Frequently cited source of political polling data
On the Issues
"Every Political Leader on Every Issue Our mission is to provide non-partisan information for voters in the Presidential election, so that votes can be based on issues rather than on personalities and popularity. We get our information daily from newspapers, speeches, press releases, and the Internet." Includes Senate and Gubernatorial candidates.

Databases

Roper iPoll This link opens in a new window
Note: Temple users must access the Roper platform by creating an iPoll account using their @temple.edu email. Go to Log In --> select Your Affiliation (Temple University) --> Register or Sign In to Roper iPoll account.
Roper iPoll is provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University and offers public opinion poll data from 1935 to the present. iPoll contains nearly 800,000 questions and over 23,000 datasets from both U.S. and international polling firms. Surveys cover any number of topics including, social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, science, the environment, and much more. When available, results charts, demographic crosstabs and full datasets are provided for immediate download.
Polling the Nations This link opens in a new window
Polling the Nations compiles surveys conducted by polling organizations in the United States as well as other countries from 1986 to the present. Each record reports a question asked and the responses given. Also included in each record is the polling organization responsible for the work, the date the information was released, the sample size, and universe. All the surveys reported here were conducted using scientifically selected random samples.

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