Research Guides: Politics: Finding Data

Key Politics Data Sets

U.S. Census Bureau

Leading source of up-to-date demographic data about the United States people and economy.

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information.
CampaignView
Searchable dataset of 43,000+ policy-platform points and 5,000+ biographical narratives of candidates for the US House of Representatives between 2018 and 2022.
Federal Reserve
The central bank of the United States, access monetary news, data sets and interactive data visualizations.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
American National Election Studies
ANES produces high quality data from its own surveys on voting, public opinion, and political participation.
UN Statistics Department
Compiles and disseminates global statistical information, develop standards and norms for statistical activities, and support countries' efforts to strengthen their national statistical systems.

State Statistics
Contains datasets covering critical social science statistics for the U.S., states, counties, cities, ZIP Codes, and Census Tracts. Access through the Oxy VPN when off campus.

Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
PRB data sheets are ready references of demographic and health indicators by country and region including population projections and key data insights.
YouGov Politics
From online polling platform, daily updated data sets on current events, hot-button issues and the economy.

IPUMS

Database of census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. Users must create a free account to access.
ICPSR Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research

Data archive of research in the social and behavioral sciences, including specialized collections of data on health, education, criminal justice, substance abuse and social media. Users may have to log in with their Oxy email for off-campus access to some datasets. NOTE: ICPSR prohibits uploading datasets from their platform to AI tools.

ProPublica
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force.
CIRCLE
CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) conducts research on the civic and political engagement of young Americans.
General Social Survey
Contains a standard 'core' of demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions, plus topics of special interest since 1972 to facilitate time-trend studies as well as replication of earlier findings.
Yale ISPS Data Archive
The ISPS Data Archive consists primarily of social science research based on experiments. The Archive is organized by study and includes the data, analysis code, requisite documentation, and other associated materials.
World Bank
Free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
World Values Survey
The World Values Survey (www.worldvaluessurvey.org) is a global network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life, led by an international team of scholars, with the WVS association and secretariat headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

California & Los Angeles Data

California Health and Human Services Open Data Portal
Open Data Portal initiative in order to increase public access to one of the State’s most valuable assets – non-confidential health and human services data.
California Health Interview Survey (CHIS)
Provides health estimates for California's diverse population at the local level (census tracts, zip codes and cities). Requires free account login.
California Open Data Portal
California open data repository.
Los Angeles City Controller
LA is your source for information about the City of Los Angeles' expenditures, revenues, payroll, purchasing, special funds, and more.
Los Angeles City Planning
Los Angeles City Planning reviews project applications, processing entitlements, and approvals, administers the Zoning Code, promotes urban design principles, and manages the City’s historic resources. There are two Open Data tools under Resources: Open Data Portal and GeoHub.
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Information and data regarding public health in Los Angeles and California.
Los Angeles City Open Data
Los Angeles City open data repository.
Los Angeles County Open Data
Open data repository for LA County
Neighborhood Data for Social Change
A project of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, NDSC is a free, publicly available online resource for civic actors to learn about the trends, challenges, and opportunities facing Los Angeles County neighborhoods through maps, charts, data analysis, and storytelling.
Southern California Earthquake Data Center
The Southern California Earthquake Data Center (SCEDC) is the archive of the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN). Its primary mission is to distribute data recorded or processed by the SCSN.
United States Census Bureau - Los Angeles Regional Office
The Los Angeles Regional Office is responsible for all data collection, data dissemination, and geographic operations under a new service area boundary. States within the Los Angeles Region's service area include Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Data Mapping Tools

My Community Explorer (U.S. Census)
A data mapping tool to identify economically, environmentally and social vulnerable communities.

PolicyMap

Mapping and analytics tool for research related to social sciences, urban studies, housing, community development, public administration, public health, education, business and more. Also includes Claritas Prizm population segmentation data.
Social Explorer

Online research and data mapping tool with Census data and demographic information.

Opportunity Atlas
Comprehensive census tract-level dataset and interactive map of children’s outcomes (such as poverty and incarceration) in adulthood.
LAPD Crime Mapping
Interactive maps of crimes by type and neighborhood Sept 2011-Present.

Politics

Government Data Rescue

Social Sciences & Data Literacy Librarian

Key Politics Data Sets

California & Los Angeles Data

Data Mapping Tools