This site enables you to directly pull up the GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY (GSS). NORC (the National Opinion Research Corporation, which is an arm of the University of Chicago [you know, the same folks who originally gave us SPSS]) is the collector of the data. The General Social Survey began in 1972. The most recent was collected in 2014 and was just added to the gigantic database. Initially the GSS was conducted every year, nationwide, face to face, probability sample down to the respondent in the household (that is, textbook!) with about 1500 respondents. More recently, it is now conducted every other year, with about 3000 respondents. The GSS is the Gold Standard for surveys in the United States. Through this site, you can also ANALYZE the data online, using the Berkeley SDA system. If you want to analyze, before that, I urge you to study the General Social Survey codebook because we are talking thousands of cases and variables here! You can actually download the entire dataset in SPSS format on a fast broadband connection in our LRC in about 20 minutes.
 
 

The GSS was supported in its first year by grants from the Russell Sage Foundation and the National Science Foundation. NSF provided support for annual surveys 1973 through 1991, with surveys in 1973-1978, 1980, 1982, 1983-1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014.

To date, NORC has documented the publication of more than 5,000 articles using the GSS data.

The GSS is a repeated cross-sectional survey. That means that we have comparable samples from year to year but it is not a panel study, i.e., it is unlikely that the same person will be re-interviewed. Currently, the GSS collects in-person structured opinion survey data from approximately 3000 persons in the lower 48 states every two years. Since 1972 more than 74,000 respondents have answered more than 4,000 different questions. I sometimes think the GSS has asked about virtually EVERYTHING.

Every GSS has topical modules in it, such as religion, internet use, attitudes toward science, attitudes about gender, or attitudes about education. The GSS has an oversight panel, which helps select the topics for its modules. In addition to the modules, several items are considered " core indicators" and are repeated with nearly every GSS, such as the "crisis of confidence" items about United States major institutions (which the U.S. Federal congress tried to outlaw any federal support for in 2013) or feelings of alienation (anomie). There is a very wide range of demographic items, and some of the really awful and time-consuming open-ended information, such as detailed (very detailed) Census three digit occupational code, is already done for you.

Now located at Cornell University, the Roper Center is one of the largest archives of public opinion data in the world. It has datasets at all levels, including international data. There are far more than Roper surveys in this archive. It is also the archive for several Harris surveys (Louis Harris is widely known in the industry for his in-depth work on social and policy issues as well as pioneering work with online surveys and survey panels), newspapers (e.g., the Los Angeles Times has an active public opinion research unit), as well as the General Social Survey (but see above.) There are lots of archives addressing education, too.

This very rich site takes a while to explore, so set aside some time. Available are:

• Documentation on many of the surveys
• Tables of data, including time trends
• The online journal, Public Perspective which the Center publishes when it can

"iPOLL is the most comprehensive, up-to-date source for US nationwide public opinion available today. A full-text retrieval system, iPOLL is organized at the question-level providing the tools to sift through 380,500 questions asked on national public opinion surveys since 1935."

However this service is available free only on a "trial" basis. After that, the user must subscribe to the service. Information is available also through this service for Latin America.
(Again, FSU is a Roper Center member so students have access to all.)

This is a terrific resource with online reports, trend tables, articles and DATA! Their surveys, virtually all national, from 1997 on are available at no charge.  The Pew Center on the Internet and American Life is one of the very richest source of data on IT use. Many different topics are available. Do be sure to check on methods, especially response rates!

For data analysts, data are in ascii computer format; but you can usually read an ascii file into EXCEL. However, it is wise to read their caveats and know your limitations. If you download data, either analyze via EXCEL or convert to SPSS or SAS. Those with a lot of SPSS experience can use the SPSS program to build SPSS files from the ascii data.

(I will warn you that using EXCEL for statistics has garned VERY mixed reviews so be careful.)

Try this link for the data archives:
 

Very good idea to read their reports first so that you get a "feel" for the data.

The NES conducts national surveys of the American electorate in presidential and midterm election years and over two dozen biennial election studies spanning more than 50 years (one of the oldest series available). The longevity of the NES time-series greatly enhances the utility of the data, since measures can be pooled over time, and both long-term trends and the political impact of historical events can be identified.

Time-Series Studies, conducted around each national election. In presidential election years, the study is conducted both before and after the election  (that is, a pre/post-election study), while in congressional election years the study is conducted only after the election (a post-election study). Each election study addresses a wide range of substantive themes including: expectations about the election outcome; perceptions and evaluations of the major parties and their candidates; interest in the campaign; information about politics; partisanship; assessments of the relative importance of major problems facing the country; attention to campaign coverage in the mass media; feelings of political efficacy; political values; conservatism vs. liberalism; trust in government; political participation; vote choice; economic well- being; positions on social welfare, economic, social, and civil rights issues; evaluations of a wide range of political figures and groups; detailed demographic information; and measures of religious affiliation and religiosity.

Research and Development (Pilot) Studies, normally conducted in the 'off-years' when there is no national election. These studies are designed to test new, or refine existing, instrumentation and study designs, all in order to improve the Time-Series Studies.

Other Major Data Collections, which include ad hoc stand alone studies such as the Senate Election Studies and the 1982 Methods Comparison Study, as well as the panel studies which span individual Time-Series studies.

An absolute national treasure!

Data, codebooks, in many cases detailed descriptions of data collection methods are available although you might need to do some hunting for them.
 

This site, sponsored by George Washington University (Alexandria Virginia), has several articles, summaries and a search engine. It is a nonpartisan report of several public opinion surveys.

There is a lot of trend data on several topics that can be manually loaded into a spreadsheet such as EXCEL. While a lot of the surveys are about politics, there are many other topics included, such as health.
 

The National Network of State Polls (NNSP) is a confederation of organizations that conduct state-level surveys. Membership is diverse, consisting of more than 50 members from 38 states. The institutions that make up the network range from private research firms to large universities. Some members do only occasional state polling; others do several state surveys per year. It is now part of ICPSR at Michigan and also at an archive at the University of Kentucky.

The NNSP's growing archive of state survey data once was housed at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, another major data repository.. The data archives give researchers electronic access to a large number of studies conducted in different states through the Odum Institute's Public Opinion Poll Question Database. Members and non-members may use the archives at no charge (but you may need to register).

This is an ABSOLUTELY GIGANTIC archive, so again, set aside some time if you wish to explore this one.

The NNSP member institutions range from private research firms to large universities, many of whom deposit their state surveys with the NNSP. Organizations that conduct statewide surveys are eligible to apply for membership. Individual non-members can also join subscribe to their newsletter.
 

 
 

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December 3 2017
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