LibGuides: Political Science: Websites and Data Sources

Online Resources

Kentucky Center for Statistics
The Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS) collects and links data to evaluate education and workforce efforts in the Commonwealth. This includes developing reports, responding to research requests, and providing statistical data about these efforts so policymakers, practitioners, and the general public can make better informed decisions.

Kentucky County Data Profiles (CEDIK) This link opens in a new window
Two-page profiles for all 120 counties in Kentucky on the following topics: Agriculture and food, Economic, Healthcare, Retail Sector, Small Business and Workforce.
Kentucky State Data Center This link opens in a new window
Assists private, corporate, and nonprofit citizens of Kentucky with locating data they need for analysis and decision making. Contains demographic data, census surveys, economic data, and maps.
Data.gov This link opens in a new window
Data.gov is the home of the U.S. Government's open data. It contains Federal, state and local data, tools, and resources to conduct research.

Explore Census Data
The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy.

Data.gov This link opens in a new window
Data.gov is the home of the U.S. Government's open data. It contains Federal, state and local data, tools, and resources to conduct research.
DataUSA This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive website and visualization engine of public US Government data. Includes data analytics in an open, easy-to-use platform.

Bureau of Justice Statistics
The Bureau of Justice Statistics collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, crime victims, and the justice system in the United States.
Election Statistics 1920 to Present
Since 1920, the Clerk of the House has collected and published the official vote counts for federal elections from the official sources among the various states and territories.
Election Studies
Explore Census Data
The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy.
Gallup
Provides data-driven news based on U.S. and world polls, daily tracking and public opinion research.
General Social Survey
Lugar Center Bipartisan Index
The Lugar Center-McCourt School Bipartisan Index is a means of quantifying congressional members’ bipartisan behavior on the basis of bill sponsorship and co-sponsorship.
U.S. Officials' Job Approval Ratings (JARs) Database
The U.S. Officials' Job Approval Ratings (JARs) Database is a 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.

UN Data
EuroSTAT
An aggregated database of statistics for all EU countries.
OECD Statistics
Includes data and metadata for OECD countries and selected non-member economies.

World Factbook This link opens in a new window
US government profiles of countries and territories around the world. Information on geography, people, government, transportation, economy, communications, and so on.

World Governance Indicators
The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and territories over the period 1996–2020, for six dimensions of governance: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption.
Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)
Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is an unique approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. We provide a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond the simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between five high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian, and collects data to measure these principles.

Internet Archive This link opens in a new window
A digital collection of text, audio, moving images, and software from libraries and museums all over the world in order to prevent digital artifacts from "disappearing." This non-profit provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
Opposing Viewpoints in Context helps students research, analyze and organize a broad variety of data for conducting research, completing writing assignments, preparing for debates, creating presentations and more. Includes different information formats, include statistics, opinion, news, and peer-reviewed articles.
Pew Research Center This link opens in a new window
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.
Policy Archive This link opens in a new window
PolicyArchive is an innovative, new digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research. It makes use of the power, efficiency, and economy of modern Internet technology to collect and disseminate summaries and full texts, videos, reports, briefs, and multimedia material of think tank, university, government, and foundation-funded policy research.
Country Studies This link opens in a new window
Presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world. Most studies were completed between 1988-98 and have not been updated.

Congress.gov This link opens in a new window
Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information. It replaces the nearly 20-year-old THOMAS.gov, and currently includes all data sets available on THOMAS.gov except nominations, treaties and communications.

The United States Constitution Online
The United States Constitution in online format provided by Cornell University.

Political Science Organizations

American Political Science Association
The APSA is the major professional society for individuals engaged in the study of politics and government. APSA brings together political scientists from all fields of inquiry, regions, and occupational endeavors.
American Society for Public Administration
The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), established in 1939, is the largest and most prominent professional association in the field of public administration.
International Political Science Association
IPSA supports the development of political science in all parts of the world. They provide resources on to national political science associations and descriptions of International Political Science Abstracts.
Society for Political Methodology
The Society of Political Methodology works towards developing and establishing empirical tools for the study of politics.