LibGuides: *Political Science Subject Guide: Statistics & Data

Defining the When and the What

What do I need to know about my topic before I start looking for statistics?

Define the 'When' and the 'What' before looking for statistics:

When: Are you looking for information about a single point in time? Do you want to look at changes over time? Do you need historical information? Current information?

Be prepared that the most current statistics may actually be a year or more old. There can be multiple year lags before some information is released, depending on how often the information is collected, the time it takes to process and crunch numbers, and the public release schedule.

What: Are you looking at a geographical area (nations, states, counties, cities)? A population demographic(defined by nationality, ethnicity, age, employment, etc.)? Units of currency? Remember to define your topic with enough flexibility to adapt to available information.

The strategies in this section are credited to the MSU Libraries How to Find Data & Statistics guide.

Top 5 Recommendations for Political Science

Pew Research Center
Covers U.S. public opinion, global attitudes, and policy trends throughout the 50 states.
Data.census.gov
Data.census.gov is the current platform to access data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau. It replaces American FactFinder, and provides a centralized location for census data sets, geographic profiles, maps, and other census data visualizations.
American National Election Studies (ANES)
ANES, through the University of Michigan, conducts national surveys of the American electorate in presidential and midterm election years, and carries out research and development work through pilot studies in odd-numbered years. The NES time-series now encompasses 23 biennial election studies spanning five decades.
Media and Politics in the U.S. via Statista
This topic report, from the library's Statista database, is a collection of statistics and facts about the relationship between mass media and American politics in recent years. Includes sections on social media, advertising, fake news, and other subtopics.

Statistical Abstracts of the United States on ProQuest via NC LIVE This link opens in a new window
The Statistical Abstracts of the United States were compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, and represents a collection of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. ProQuest offers the most recent editions of the Statistical Abstracts.