Research Data Management

Dartmouth Library has acquired Gallup public opinion poll microdata for research and instructional use by Dartmouth faculty, students, and researchers.

The library has a subscription to the Gallup Analytics database, which provides summary information from a number of Gallup polls. As part of our subscription, the library receives microdata files for several of the surveys included in this database. These records represent individual, anonymized responses to survey questions that can be analyzed with statistical packages and scripting languages. Current Dartmouth students, faculty, and staff can request custom downloads of specific data from these files for non-commercial research purposes.

Access:
The microdata is available via individual download to your local machine.  You must authenticate through your Dartmouth Google account to access the data.  

Datasets:
PRIMARY:

• GPSS Polling Series

The Gallup Poll Social Series is a small, recurring, monthly survey in the US that focuses on a different theme each month. There is one data file for each month that contains responses for all years (approx 2001 to present).

• US Daily Tracker

A large, daily poll that gauges attitudes and opinions about individual circumstances and current events. There is one data file for each year from 2008 to 2017, then the files are split into two parts from 2018 forward. There is a multi-year lag in receiving updates. Some questions are asked consistently each year while others change on a regular basis.

• World Poll

A large poll that gauges individual circumstances as well as opinions about current events that includes respondents from almost every country. Data is stored in one cumulative file, covering 2006 to present. Questions vary by time period and country; some are asked consistently everywhere, while others are asked for a limited period in select places.
SECONDARY:

• COVID-19 Panel Survey

A small US-based survey that was launched just after COVID-19 emerged, to gauge on-going attitudes and opinions about the pandemic.

• Confidence in Institutions Survey

Measures the confidence level in several US institutions like Congress, the Presidency, the Supreme Court, police, etc. Conducted once per year from 1973 to present.

• Race Relations Survey

A small survey conducted in November 2018. It includes topics previously represented in the GPSS Minority Relations Survey that ran through 2016.

All of the responses are anonymized and do not contain names or addresses. Basic demographic characteristics like age, sex, and race, as well as general geographic locations of respondents are captured in every series. There is a time lag or embargo between the time a survey is published and the time we receive the data; this lag ranges from a number of months to a number of years depending on the dataset.

License:
Data use is for internal efforts only and cannot be included in any commercial product or distributed to others outside of Dartmouth College without explicit permission from Gallup.
 

• Data is to be used only for academic research, instruction, and data projects by faculty, staff, students and researchers affiliated with Trustees of Dartmouth College. Walk-ins cannot have access to the raw data itself under any circumstances.
• Gallup data should not be included in a publication in a quantity or specificity that could reasonably be deemed to be a substitute for acquiring the data from Gallup.
• Creation of derivatives for non-commercial research purposes, such as summary tables, charts, and maps, is acceptable. All publications and derivatives must include attribution when Gallup data are included without modification, or are used as a direct source of analysis.

Dartmouth affiliates may not share Gallup datasets or documentation, in whole or part, with any third party.

If you have any question about whether your use of Gallup Microdata is valid, please contact the Library at researchdatahelp@groups.dartmouth.edu.