Political Science

American Government & Politics

Guide to Political Science research at Boston College Libraries

Government Information Guide

There is an entire guide devoted to Government Information.

CQ Press Library

CQ Press has amazing resources for research into American government and politics. Search or browse resources on American government, current affairs, history, politics, public policy, and data analysis for the social sciences.

Reports

The Book of States: Reference resource from the Council of State Governments which provides data and analysis, from 1933 to present
Census of Governments by the U.S. Census Bureau: Three years of data on government organization, public employment, and government finance compiled every 5 years. 2007-1992.
Nexis Uni: Includes thousands of U.S. and non-U.S. news sources; legal materials: case law, statutes and law reviews; and company/business information. Strength from 1990 to the present. Nexis Uni replaces Lexis-Nexis Academic.

Public Opinion

Gallup Analytics This link opens in a new window
Gallup Analytics offers access to nearly a century of U.S. public opinion data and a decade of global data. It includes the Gallup Poll Social Series, World Poll (covering over 140 countries since 2006) and the U.S. Daily Poll. This resource provides trends statistics. View and compare aggregated data by demographic, geography and more. Some microdata is available in Roper iPoll database. Please Note: Access is limited to one user at a time. If you are unable to login and receive an error message, please try accessing it at a later time.
Polling the Nations This link opens in a new window
Polling the Nations is a comprehensive collection of public opinion polls containing the full text of more than 700,000 questions and responses from more than 18,000 surveys and 1,700 polling organizations, conducted from 1986 through the present in the United States and more than 100 other countries around the world. In 1981 it began, in print format, as American Public Opinion Index (O'Neill Reference & Stacks HM261.A463).
Roper iPoll, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research This link opens in a new window
A collection of United States national public opinion polling data spanning from 1935 to present day. Data is organized at the question level and sourced from major polling institutions including polling research centers, like Gallup and Pew, academic, commercial and news organizations. Search and browse by topic, polling organization, date and more. Some data sets are downloadable.

Federal Government Information

FBI Files Online: Thousands of files released through the Freedom of Information Act. (content continues to be added) Includes information on historical events, political movements, as well as files on individuals and groups.

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Provides access to hearings, published and unpublished from 1824 to the present, congressional committee reports, bills, public laws, selected committee prints, congressional documents, the Congressional Record from the 99th Congress forward, Federal Register from 1980 forward, the current Code of Federal Regulations, and the current US Code.
U.S. Declassified Documents Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
Collection provides access to over 750,000 pages of government documents from 1900 to 2008. Covering major policy issues from the period before the World War II into the twenty-first century, the archive serves as a convenient source for documents from government departments including Defense; State; Treasury; CIA; and the White House. U.S. Declassified Documents Online supports the study of history, politics, international relations, and journalism, among other fields.
ProQuest Legislative Insight This link opens in a new window
Contains citation export options that ProQuest Congressional does not. Legislative histories, covering 1789 to present day, with links to fully searchable PDFs of full-text Congressional documents, including the public law itself, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports and prints. Also included are presidential signing statements, CRS reports, and miscellaneous publications that provide background to the creation of the law.

Policy

PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
PolicyMap is a GIS tool for non-GIS users." PolicyMap is used as a data visualization tool in the social sciences, urban studies and planning, real estate and housing analysis, community and economic development, public administration and policy, public health, political science, education, environmental studies, business and finance, economics, statistics and geography, among other areas. Downloadable data.

State Partisan Composition: The National Conference of State Legislatures, created by state legislators and legislative staff in 1975, serves America’s 50 states, commonwealths, territories and the District of Columbia. Data, comparisons and history.

Media

C-SPAN Video Library: Contains all C-SPAN programs since 1987, indexed, abstracted, and cataloged by the C-SPAN Archives staff.

Vanderbilt Television News Archive This link opens in a new window
Index of national network television news programs 1968-present. Streaming access for NBC broadcasts 1968-present and some CNN broadcasts 1995-present. Requests for other broadcasts can be made through Interlibrary Loan.

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Political Science

American Government & Politics

Government Information Guide

CQ Press Library

Reports

Public Opinion

Federal Government Information

Policy

Media