What Are They Thinking? New Findings from Political Behavior Research

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Resources for data-driven research on the political behavior of the mass public (especially the voting public). Topics include political preferences, knowledge, socialization, learning, and engagement. Most datasets are public opinion surveys. Also see voting & elections (for voter turnout and vote choice) and migration & citizenship (for immigration policy preferences).

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Teach Political Analysis

Create a course outline with ease! Integrate the classic text, Essentials of Political Analysis, with Companions for SPSS, Stata, Excel & R. Teach with software of your choice.

MORE FOR TEACHERS: Sample Course Syllabi featuring our textbooks, varied software, with/without paper assignments

Review Terms for 5 Minutes - Pick chapters or just press play for quick study

Run Live R Demos in Browser - Excellent for online teaching

Links to More Resources for Teaching Political Analysis

Watch & Learn


Overperception of Moral Outrage in Online Social Networks
Research presentation by William Brady (1:28:40)


Do Politics Make Us Irrational?
From TED-Ex (5:36)

MORE VIDEOS: See Video Channels for more political science videos!

LEARN HOW: Watch Lecture Videos for Essentials of Political Analysis, Video Tutorials for R, Stata, SPSS, and Excel

ORIGINAL PROJECT: Studying Presidents

Pres. A. Johnson's Positions on Roll Call Votes:
39th: House Senate 40th: House Senate

This data is part of a larger project to identify the policy preferences of all U.S. Presidents. See index.

More Q. Than A.

Career Planning Advice for Students (in Simple Diagram)
As a college professor, I have had many opportunities to talk with students about their...

MORE QUESTIONS: Cases that Illustrate Felony-Murder Rule

Blogs, Podcasts & Journals

kai arzheimer: .Blogging about politics, parties, and voting behaviour since 2008. Focus on the Far Right. Also: data, methods, and the perils of peer review.

Public Opinion Quarterly: .Publishes important theoretical contributions to opinion and communication research, analyses of current public opinion, and investigations of methodological issues involved in survey validity.

Int'l J. of Public Opinion Research: .A source of informed analysis and comment for both professionals and academics.

Political Behavior: .Publishes original research in the general fields of political behavior, institutions, processes, and policies.

Political Communication: .Features research at the intersection of politics and communication.

See All Political Science Podcasts

Pol. Behavior Data Sites

International Social Survey Programme: .A continuous program of cross-national collaboration running annual surveys on topics important for the social sciences

Longitudinal Study of American Life: .National study on the thinking and life experiences of Generation X.

Polling the Nations: .A large online database of public opinion polls.

American National Election Studies: .ANES produces high quality data from its own surveys on voting, public opinion, and political participation; see Data Center for downloads

UK Household Longitudinal Study: .Understanding Society is the largest longitudinal household panel study of its kind and provides vital evidence on life changes and stability. See data and documentation.

See All Public Opinion Surveys Data Sites

Replication Datasets for New Articles

Attacking the Weak or the Strong? An Experiment on the Targets of Parochial AltruismSimon Varaine, +3 more authors (2023) POLBEH, more info.
Stata files: 1, datasets: 1