oct06b.indd


inter net resources 
Gary Thompson and Sean Conley 

Guide to public opinion poll 
Web sites 
Polling data from around the world 

Since
 their
 beginnings
 in
 the
 1930s
 with
Gallup,
Roper,
Harris
and
others,
scientifi
c

polling
 organizations
 have
 grown
 dramati­
cally
in
number,
scope,
and
stature
to
their

worldwide
presence
today.
This
compilation

focuses
on
significant
Internet
sites
concerning

general
public
opinion
polls,
especially
those

providing
 polling
 results
 in
 usable
 formats.

Like
other
professions
dealing
with
public
af­
fairs,
pollsters
have
found
the
Internet
to
be
a

great
boon
both
for
advertising
services
and

for
offering
survey
results.
Professional
orga­
nizations,
university
research
centers,
and
data

archives
 all
 use
 the
 Web
 to
 enhance
 access

to
public
opinion
polls.
Access
to
polls
from

other
countries
and
multinational
surveys
has

expanded
greatly
in
the
last
few
years
as
sci­
entific
polling
becomes
commonplace
in
more

nations.
Commercial
polling
organizations
and

publishers
are
putting
electronic
journals
and

searchable
databases
on
the
Web,
with
some

information
for
free
and
some
only
available
to

registrants/subscribers.
The
compilers
decided

to
exclude
Internet
sites
that
focus
heavily
on

market
research;
consumer
surveys;
pollsters

whose
 primary
 focus
 is
 political
 campaigns

and
elections;
census
and
other
governmental

sites
as
well
as
historical
treatments;
and
sites

oriented
 towards
 polling
 methodology
 and

training.
 We
 decided
 not
 to
 cover
 Web
 and

blog
polls,
as
many
are
unscientifi
c,
biased,

or
oriented
toward
amateur
efforts.


Basics 
•
A Media Guide to Survey Research (World


Association
 for
 Public
 Opinion
 Research).

This
site
provides
an
excellent
introduction
to

public
opinion
research
that
informs
journalists


and
consumers
how
to
tell
whether
a
poll
is

scientific
 or
 unscientific,
 biased
 or
 objective,

valid
or
invalid
and
what
other
key
points
to

consider
in
evaluating
polls.
Contains
links
to

other
Web
resources.
Access:
http://www.unl.

edu/WAPOR/journalists.doc.


•
Polling 101 (The
Roper
Center
for
Public

Opinion).
Polling
101
describes
the
basic
princi­
ples
of
polling
and
sampling
in
a
question­and­
answer
 format.
 Access:
 http://www.roper­
center.uconn.edu/pom/polling101.html.


Major U.S. media polls 
•
 ABC News Polling Unit
 ( 2 0 0 5 – 


present).
 Access:
 http://abcnews.go.com/US

/PollVault/.


•
 The Associated Press/IPSOS Poll 
(2003–present).
 Access:
 http://www.ap

­ipsosresults.com/.


•
CBS News Polls (Current
year).
Access: 
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/opinion

/polls/main500160.shtml.


•
Fox News Polls (2005–present).
Access: 
http://www.foxnews.com/polls/.


•
 The L.A. Times Polls
 (1996–pres­
ent).
 Access:
 http://www.latimes.com/news

/custom/timespoll/.


•
The New York Times Polls
(2002–pres­
ent).
 Access:
 http://www.nytimes.com/ref

/us/polls_index.html.


•
The NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Polls 
(1999–present).
 Access:
 http://www.npr.org

/programs/specials/poll/.


Gary Thompson is director of library and audiovisual 
ser vices, e -mail: thompson@siena.edu, and Sean 
Conley is reference and media services librarian at Siena 
College, e-mail: sconley@siena.edu 
© 2006 Gary Thompson and Sean Conley 

C&RL News October 2006  566 

mailto:sconley@siena.edu
mailto:thompson@siena.edu
http:http://www.npr.org
http://www.nytimes.com/ref
http://www.latimes.com/news
http://www.foxnews.com/polls
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/opinion
http:ipsosresults.com
http:http://www.ap
http://abcnews.go.com/US
http://www.roper
http://www.unl


• Time Magazine/SRBI Polls
 (2004­
present).
 Access:
 http://www.srbi.com

/timepoll_archive.html.


•
 The Wall Street Journal/NBC
 News

Poll
 (subscription
 required).
 Access:
 http://

interactive.wsj.com/edition/resources

/documents/pollhome.htm.


•
 T h e  Wa s h i n g t o n  P o s t  P o l l s  
(1997–present).
 Access:
 http://www.

washingtonpost.com/wp­srv/politics/polls

/vault/vault.htm.


Major U.S. commercial and nonprofi t 
polling organization sites 

•
 Gallup Brain
 (subscription
 required).

This
 site
 provides
 access
 to
 more
 than
 70

years
of
Gallup
polling
data,
while
the
analy­
sis
articles
go
back
to
1997.
Users
can
search

by
basic
keyword
or
an
advanced
search
with

limits
by
date
and
data
type,
or
browse
by
de­
cade,
topics,
and
trends.
While
a
subscription

to
 Gallup’s
 On­Demand
 service
 is
 required

to
 access
 detailed
 data
 through
 this
 site
 or

Gallup’s
 main
 site
 (poll.gallup.com),
 there

is
 limited
 free
 access
 to
 recently
 published

analysis
articles
and
selected
recent
question­
naires.
Access:
http://brain.gallup.com/.


•
 Harris Interactive.
 This
 site
 provides

access
to
the
well­known
Harris
polls
on
its

homepage
 back
 to
 1998.
 Users
 can
 search

the
 site
 by
 keyword
 or
 date.
 Results
 are

mostly
 presented
 in
 the
 form
 of
 news
 re­
leases,
analysis
articles,
and
individual
ques­
tions
 with
 responses.
 Access:
 http://www.

harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/.


•
 Kaiser Family Foundation. Run
 by

the
 Henry
 J.
 Kaiser
 Foundation,
 this
 Web

site
 provides
 free
 access
 to
 questions
 with

responses
 in
 PDF
 format
 to
 surveys
 about

health
and
health­care
issues
back
to
1994.

Access :http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/.


•
 National Opinion Research Center 
(NORC).
Since
1941
NORC
has
been
conduct­

ing
specialized
surveys
on
local,
national,
and

international
 public
 opinion.
 Current
 major

research
areas
are
economics
and
population;

education
and
child
development;
health
sur­
vey,
program,
and
policy
research;
substance

abuse,
 mental
 health,
 and
 criminal
 justice;

and
 statistics
 and
 methodology.
 NORC
 has

conducted
 the
 General
 Social
 Survey
 since

1972.
 Depending
 upon
 the
 study,
 users
 can

view
questionnaires,
datasets,
frequencies,
or

analyses.
 Access:
 http://www.norc.uchicago.

edu.


•
 Pew Research Center. This
 Web
 site

acts
as
a
gateway
for
the
other
“project”
Web

sites
being
conducted
by
Pew
Research,
such

as
 the
 Pew
 Study
 of
 People
 and
 the
 Press

(surveys
back
to
1987)
and
Stateline.
Tabs
at

the
top
of
the
page
may
be
used
to
access

different
kinds
of
reports
and
analyses.
Access: 
http://pewresearch.org/.


• Public Agenda. Started
by
Daniel
Yan­
kelovich
 and
 Cyrus
 Vance
 in
 1975,
 Public

Agenda’s
mission
is
to
make
citizens
aware
of

policy
issues
from
a
nonpartisan
perspective

and
to
understand
the
public
point
of
view.

Use
the
“Issue
Guides”
to
find
facts,
view
dif­
fering
opinions,
look
at
common
mispercep­
tions,
and
locate
lists
of
key
pollsters
for
the

issues.
Click
on
“Research
Studies”
for
other

data.
 Free
 registration
 is
 required
 for
 some

data.
Access:
http://www.publicagenda.org.


•
 Survey Research Center
 (University
 of

Michigan).
For
more
than
50
years,
the
Survey

Research
 Center
 has
 been
 a
 leader
 in
 the

collection
or
analysis
of
data
from
scientifi
c

sample
 surveys.
 Among
 its
 current
 projects

are:
1)
the
Survey
of
Consumer
Attitudes;
2)

the
Panel
Study
of
Income
Dynamics;
3)
the

Monitoring
the
Future
study
of
high
school

youth;
4)
the
Health
and
Retirement
Study;

5)
 the
 Retirement
 Research
 Center;
 6)
 the

National
 Survey
 of
 Family
 Growth;
 and
 7)

the
Youth,
Education,
and
Society
program.

Tables,
 charts,
 and
 reports
 are
 included.

Registration
is
required
for
some
data.
Access: 
http://www.isr.umich.edu/src/projects.html.


•
 Zogby. An
 international
 polling
 fi
rm
 es­
tablished
in
1984,
Zogby
provides
current
news

releases
 and
 articles
 from
 third­party
 sources


October 2006  567 C&RL News 

http://www.isr.umich.edu/src/projects.html
http:http://www.publicagenda.org
http:http://pewresearch.org
http://www.norc.uchicago
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls
http://www
http:http://brain.gallup.com
http:poll.gallup.com
http://www
http:http://www.srbi.com


that
feature
data
from
Zogby
polls,
and
“Trends

over
Time”
providing
users
with
time­series
data

relating
to
current
topics
in
the
media.
Registered

users
are
allowed
to
view
survey
results.
Access: 
http://www.zogby.com.


Polling data archives/searchable 
databases 

•
 American Religion Data Archive. 
Founded
in
1997,
the
targeted
audience
and

the
data
collection
both
now
include
Ameri­
can
 and
 international
 surveys
 and
 results.

You
can
view
questionnaires
and
also
search

for
questions
by
keyword
and
then
click
on

“analyze
results”
to
view
responses. Access: 
http://www.thearda.com.


•
 Canadian Opinion Research Archive. 
This
archive
makes
available
Canadian
com­
mercial
and
independent
surveys
dating
from

1973
forward.
Recent
and
popular
surveys
are

searchable
by
date,
broad
topic,
and
province.

Full
 access
 to
 archives
 requires
 registration.

Access:
http://www.queensu.ca/cora/.


•
 Inter-university Consortium for Politi-
cal and Social Research (ICPSR)
(subscription

required).
Established
in
1962,
ICPSR
maintains

a
vast
archive
of
social
science
data
for
research

and
 instruction.
 The
 majority
 of
 the
 data
 in

the
ICPSR
archive
are
downloadable
only
by

individuals
at
ICPSR’s
500
member
institutions.

The
remaining
data
are
made
available
through

the
 “Special
 Topic
 Archives,”
 many
 of
 which

are
federally
funded
(including
General
Social

Survey).
Data­PASS
funded
from
the
Library
of

Congress
provides
access
to
opinion
polls,
vot­
ing
records,
and
large­scale
 surveys.
 Access: 
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu.


•
 LAPOP-Latin American Public Opin-
ion Project.
Since
the
1970s,
Mitchell
Seligson

(University
 of
 Pittsburgh,
 now
 Vanderbilt)

has
 operated
 LAPOP
 to
 survey
 the
 citizens

of
 Latin
 America
 on
 democratic
 values
 and

their
 behaviors
 related
 to
 democracy.
 PDF


More public opinion poll resources 
For additional resources, please see the 
online version of this article on the ACRL 
Web site at www.acrl.org/c&rlnews. 

reports
from
the
survey
archives
representing

results
 from
 Bolivia,
 Colombia,
 Costa
 Rica,

Dominican
 Republic,
 Ecuador,
 El
 Salvador,

Guatemala,
 Honduras,
 Mexico,
 Nicaragua,

Panama,
 Paraguay,
 Peru,
 and
 Venezuela,
 as

well
 as
 for
 Madagascar,
 Israel
 and
 Albania,

are
 available
 on
 the
 Web
 site.
 Datasets
 are

available
 from
 center
 for
 an
 administrative

charge.
 Access:
 http://sitemason.vanderbilt.

edu/lapop/HOME.


•
 Polling the Nation
 (subscription
 re­
quired).
 This
 large
 polling
 database
 covers

14,000
surveys
from
1986
to
2006
from
many

of
the
major
pollsters.
The
search
interface
al­
lows
full­text
keyword
searching,
in
addition

to
a
pull­down
menu
of
topics
or
geographic

locations.
 Users
 can
 also
 browse
 or
 limit

searches
by
polling
sources.
Results
are
pre­
sented
in
a
useful
grid
format,
showing
date,

polling
organization,
and
question.
Clicking

on
the
question
will
reveal
the
results.
Access: 
http://poll.orspub.com/.


•
 Public Opinion Poll Question Data-
base. Produced
 by
 the
 Odum
 Institute
 for

Research
in
Social
Science
at
the
University

of
North
Carolina,
coverage
includes
Harris,

Southern
Poll,
state
polls,
the
Knight
Foun­
dation
Community
Polls
from
before
1970
to

present,
depending
upon
the
topic.
Search­
able
by
keyword
to
obtain
survey
question

text.
Results
for
specific
questions
available

by
“displaying
all
question
information.”
Ac­
cess:
 http://www.irss.unc.edu/data_archive/

pollsearch.html.


•
 Questionbank; Social Sur veys and 
Research Questionnaires Online. Search­
able
by
survey
name,
topic,
or
keyword
in

questions
used
in
surveys.
Limited
to
United

Kingdom
 for
 surveys
 conducted
 from
 1991

to
 present.
 No
 datasets.
 Refers
 you
 to
 the

UK
 Data
 Archive.
 Access:
 http://qb.soc.

surrey.ac.uk.


•
 The Roper Center’s poll
 (subscrip­
tion
 required).
 The
 Roper
 Center
 has
 col­
lected
 a
 large
 variety
 of
 polling
 data
 from

many
of
the
commercial,
international,
and

media
polling
organizations
throughout
the

world.
iPOLL
provides
one­stop
shopping
for

question­level
access
to
a
database
that
spans


C&RL News October 2006  568 

http:surrey.ac.uk
http://qb.soc
http://www.irss.unc.edu/data_archive
http:http://poll.orspub.com
http://sitemason.vanderbilt
www.acrl.org/c&rlnews
http:http://www.icpsr.umich.edu
http://www.queensu.ca/cora
http:http://www.thearda.com
http:http://www.zogby.com


70
years
and
nearly
a
half
million
questions,

searchable
 by
 basic
 keywords
 with
 limits,

or
browsing
by
organization
or
topic.
Each

record
gives
survey
methodology,
question,

and
responses
by
percentile.
Those
without

a
subscription
have
free
access
to
the
“Public

Opinion
Matters”
section,
providing
analysis

on
 current
 topics
 or
 access
 through
 Lexis­
Nexis
 if
 your
 library
 subscribes
 to
 that
 ser­
vice.
Access:
http://www.ropercenter.uconn.

edu/ipoll.html.


•
UK Data Archive–Major Studies. A
list­
ing
of
major
surveys
of
British
and
European

public
opinion
conducted
by
governmental

agencies
and
social
organizations,
the
United

Kingdom
Data
Archive
(UKDA)
is
a
curator

of
the
largest
collection
of
digital
data
in
the

social
sciences
and
humanities
in
the
United

Kingdom.
 Access: http://www.data­archive.

ac.uk/fi
ndingData/majorstudies.asp.


•
 Wor ld Public Opinion.org (WPO). 
The
Program
on
International
Policy
Attitudes

launched
WorldPublicOpinion.org
in
January

2006
to
provide
a
source
of
in­depth
infor­
mation
and
analysis
on
public
opinion
from

around
 the
 world
 on
 international
 issues.

Covers
national,
cross­national,
and
interna­
tional
surveys.
Summary
reports
of
survey
re­
sults.
Also
includes
Americans & the World, a

source
on
U.S.
public
opinion
on
international

issues
and
The Digest,
which
provides
analy­
ses
of
polling
on
various
international
topics.

Access:
 http://www.worldpublicopinion.

org/pipa/articles/btdevelopmentaidra/135.

php?nid=&id=&pnt=135&lb=brusc.


Multinational and foreign polls 
•
 Afrobarometer–Africa Public Opin-

ion Research Home Page.
Founded
in
1993,

this
 nonpartisan

research
 project

conducts
 regular

surveys
 of
 Afri­
can
opinions
from

more
than
a
dozen


nations
on
a
wide
range
of
topics.
Surveys,


survey
results,
briefing
papers,
and
working


papers
 are
 available
 online.
 Access:http://


www.afrobarometer.org.



•
 Asiabarometer.
 For
 English
 version,

hit
 “cancel”
 when
 it
 asks
 if
 you
 want
 to

install
 language
 pack.
 Results
 available

from
 the
 Interuniversity
 Consortium
 for

Political
 and
 Social
 Research.
 Cover­
age:
 2003–2005.
 Access:
 http://avatoli.

ioc.u­tokyo.ac.jp/~asiabarometer/pages

/english/index.html.


•
 European Public Opinion Analysis. 
Sponsored
 by
 the
 European
 Commission

since
 1973,
 this
 site
 provides
 current
 and

past
 summaries
 and
 full
 reports
 from
 the

Eurobarometer
 general
 and
 topical
 survey

series
 as
 well
 as
 links
 to
 other
 European

polls.
 Access:
 http://europa.eu.int/comm

/public_opinion/.


•
 FOM: Public Opinion Foundation 
(Russia).
 Established
 in
 1992,
 this
 center

now
provides
a
weekly
edition
(Dominants) 
highlighting
selected
Russian
polls
as
well
as

a
database
where
one
can
locate
and
view

responses
to
questions.
Access:
http://eng­
lish.fom.ru.


•
 Ja p a n e s e  D a t a  A r c h i v e . 
 J P O L L 

contains
 more
 than
 10,000
 public
 opinion

questions
 and
 the
 respective
 responses

from
Japan’s
major
survey
research
sources.

Users
 can
 search
 for
 public
 opinion
 ques­
tions
 using
 keywords,
 topics,
 dates,
 and

organizations
 as
 search
 criteria.
 Coverage:

1980–1998.
 Free
 registration
 required.
 Ac­
cess:
 http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/

jpoll/home.html.


•
 Latin American Databank (LAD). 
The
Latin
American
Databank
at
the
Roper

Center
for
Public
Opinion
Research
archives

public
 opinion
 surveys
 for
 Latin
 America.

Established
in
1969,
LAD
holds
nearly
1,000

studies
 from
 16
 countries,
 with
 the
 larg­
est
 contributions
 coming
 from
 Argentina,

Chile,
 Mexico,
 Peru,
 and
 Venezuela.
 Data

only
 available
 to
 Roper
 Express
 custom­
ers.
Access:
http://www.ropercenter.uconn.

edu/lad.html.


•
 Latinobarometro. Latinobarómetro

is
 an
 annual
 survey
 of
 public
 opinion
 in

18
countries
in
Latin
America
produced
by

Latinobarómetro
 Corporation,
 a
 nonprofi
t

organization
based
in
Santiago
Chile.
Cover­

October 2006  569 C&RL News 

http://www.ropercenter.uconn
http:http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu
http:lish.fom.ru
http://eng
http://europa.eu.int/comm
http://avatoli
http:www.afrobarometer.org
http://www.worldpublicopinion
http:WorldPublicOpinion.org
http:Opinion.org
http://www.data-archive
http://www.ropercenter.uconn


age:
1995­2004.
To
analyze
the
results
online

requires
 password
 for
 payment,
 but
 PDF

summaries
of
the
survey
results
are
available

under
the
“Press”
pull
down.
Access:
http://

latinobarometro.org/index.php?id=150.


• Mansfield Asian Opinion Poll Da-
tabase. This
 site
 offers
 opinion
 polls
 on

key
 policy­related
 issues
 from
 major
 me­

dia
 organiza­
tions
and
other

agencies
 in
 Ja­
pan
 and
 South

Korea.
 These

polls
were
pre­

viously
not
available
in
English.
Coverage:

2004–2006.
 Access:
 http://mansfieldfdn.

org/polls/index.htm.


•
 World Values Survey. This
 Web
 site

provides
access
to
tables
and
graphs
show­
ing
national
or
comparative
survey
results
for

selected
countries
to
the
four
waves
of
the

World
Values
Survey
conducted
from
1981

to
 2004.
 Access: http://www.worldvalues­
survey.org/services/main.html.


Other resource lists of Web Sites on 
public opinion polls 

•
 CISER Data Archive—Public Opin-
ion Sur veys (Cor nell University).
 Good

annotated
list
of
sources
for
the
actual
text

or
results
of
public
opinion
surveys,
includ­
ing
 U.S.
 national
 and
 regional
 surveys
 and

cross­national
polls.
Access: http://www.ciser.

cornell.edu/info/polls.shtml.


•
 Online Survey Research/Public Opin-
ion Centers: a Worldwide Listing (Kansas 
University).
 Updated
 in
 2000,
 the
 site
 has

a
fairly
comprehensive
list
of
U.S.
university

research
 centers
 on
 public
 opinion
 listed

by
 state
 and
 other
 academic,
 commercial,

and
 governmental
 research
 centers
 outside

of
 the
 United
 States.
 Access: http://www2.

ku.edu/~coms/links/links2.htm.


•
 P u b l i c  O p i n i o n  Po l l s — Re s e a r c h  
Guide (Univer sity of  Pennsylvania Li-
brary). Contains
 a
 long
 list
 of
 print
 and

online
 sources
 for
 polling
 data.
 Access: 
http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/guides

/polisci/polls.html.


Applications/Nominations Invited for C&RL Editor 

The deadline for receipt of applications is December 4, 2006. 

Finalists will be interviewed at the Midwinter Meeting in January 2007. 

Applications and nominations are invited 
for the position of editor of College & Research 
Libraries  (C&RL), the bimonthly, scholarly 
research journal of the Association of College 
and Research Libraries (ACRL). The editor is 
appointed for a three-year term, which may 
be renewed for an additional three years. 
Applicants must be a member of ALA and 
ACRL. Qualifications include professional 
experience in academic libraries, a record 
of scholarly publication, editing experience, 
an ability to meet publication deadlines, an 
understanding of the scholarly communication 
process, and a broad knowledge of the issues 
confronting academic libraries. 

Some funding for editorial assistance and 
travel to relevant conferences is available, 
and there is a small honorarium for the 
editor. 

Appointment will be made by the ACRL 
Board of Directors at the 2007 Annual 
Conference upon the recommendation 
of the search commiĴee and of the ACRL 
Publications Coordinating CommiĴ ee. The 
incoming editor will serve for at least one 
year as editor-designate, working with 
the current editor, before assuming full 
responsibility for C&RL in July 2008. 

Nominations or resumes and letters of 
application, including the names of three 
references, should be sent to: 

C&RL Search CommiĴee 
c/o Dawn Mueller 
ACRL Production Editor 
50 East Huron Street 
Chicago, IL 60611 
e-mail: dmueller@ala.org 

C&RL News October 2006  570 

http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/guides
http://www2
http://www.ciser
http://www.worldvalues
http://mansfieldfdn