The purpose of this guide is to assist students in locating polling information in the IUB Libraries’ print and digital collections. At the end of the guide you will also find some resources offering guidance and standards relating to the design, interpretation and evaluation of opinion polls. One brief statement "Twenty Questions a Journalist Should Ask About Poll Results" is a good beginning.

LexisNexis Academic Universe: Polls & Surveys

This is the most comprehensive collection of US public opinion polls, with coverage from 1935 to the present. It covers the politics and government, public institutions, international relations, business, social affairs and consumer behavior and preferences. The data comes from a wide variety of sources in opinion polling such as Gallup, Harris, Roper; CNN, New York Times, USA Today and other news media. The file is maintained by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, a non-profit education and research organization in the field of public opinion and public policy.

Polling the Nations

This resource is beginning to cover other countries in addition to the US. In addition to data from polling companies and news media, it also picks up information from a large number of non-profit organizations conducting polls such as universities. Not all entries, however, are presented in the most complete or desirable format. Covers 1986 to the present. The earlier print version this online resource is entitled American Public Opinion Index (see below). The complete survey information included in the microform set accompanying the American Public Opinion Index is not included in this online version (as of spring 2003).

Try keyword searches

for example:

(poll or polls or polling) and (tuition or vouchers)

public opinion and immigration

in many article and newspaper indexes including

• Academic Search Premier and Business Premier (EBSCO)
• Factiva
• Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe – in the News sections
• PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service)
• Reader’s Guide Retrospective (18901982)

The principal journals in polling research are also covered by these indexes and other collections (example: the full text of Public Opinion Quarterly is available from 1937 to 1999 in JSTOR, from 2000 to present in The University of Chicago Press and from 1965 to present in Academic Search Premier).

American Public Opinion Index

Annual 1983-1998 HM261 .A463 (Main Library Reference Department)

A print index and an accompanying microform set giving complete survey question and response data for many national, state and local opinion polls.

Gallup Poll

Annual 1935- HN90.P8 G17 (Main Library Reference Department)

A cumulative index covers 1935-1997

More titles about public opinion

in the Reference Reading Room

Index to International Public Opinion

Annual 1978 - (HM261.A1 I5 Journalism Library)

And see the notes above about Polling the Nations.

Also, the guide from Columbia University Library/ Butler Reference Dept.: Public Opinion Polls has excellent guidance on resources covering individual countries.

To find books on polls, polling, research and techniques search the Libraries’ catalog, IUCAT, using keywords or the following SUBJECT phrases

Public opinion polls

Public opinion--United State [or France, Sweden...]

Political Science Data Laboratory & Archive

The Data Lab, in Woodburn Hall, manages and funds the University'’s membership to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. Through "ICPSR Direct", Bloomington campus users can access and download codebooks and datasets directly from ICPSR, as well as conduct basic statistical analysis of data from, for example, the General Social Survey (GSS) through ICPSR's Special Topics Archive. In addition, the Data Lab also provides Web-based, system-wide access to its data holdings from these and other archives and consortia. Contact the Data Archivist at the addresses listed on the website for further information and assistance.

Columbia University Library/ Butler Reference Dept.: Public Opinion Polls

excellent for information on worldwide polling information, specific regions and countries. The IUB libraries own many of the resources listed here and in the following guides. Check IUCAT.

Harvard's Kennedy School of Government Library: Public Opinion Polls

good basic information

Stanford University: Public Opinion A Selective Guide to Library Resources

excellent annotations and explanations of resources

Yale University: Public Opinion Subject Guide

guidance on finding complete datafiles (specific to Yale but can provide helpful information)

This guide is focused on resources to which the Indiana University Bloomington Libraries subscribe. All the major polling companies have websites which can be found with simple searches (example www.gallup.com). Many of these sites have useful information freely available but much information is available only to subscribers past a certain point. Keep in mind that some of that subscriber information may well be available to you by using Polls & Surveys in LexisNexis Academic Universe and in the other resources described here.

Newsroom Guide to Polls and Surveys

G.Cleveland Wilhoit and David H. Weaver (Bloomington: IU Press, 1990).

HM 261 .W53 1990 (in Main Library and Journalism Library)

Polling and the Public

Herbert Asher (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2001)

HM1236 .A75 2001 (Main Library also other editions in Main and Journalism)

ESOMAR Codes & Guidelines

European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research and the World Association for Public Opinion Research

Best Practices for Survey and Public Opinion Research

American Association for Public Opinion Research

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AB 5/2003