Looking for public opinion polls? The Library recently initiated a subscription to iPoll, the Roper Center for Public Opinion’s online archive containing opinion polls and data from over 150 survey organizations from the 1930s to present.
Described as the “most comprehensive, up-to-date source for US public opinion,” iPoll lets you search full-text at the question level from over a half million questions asked on national surveys covering a wide range of topics.
Major survey research organizations represented in iPoll include:
To provide a sample of what types of information you can retrieve in iPoll, a keyword search “coffee” yields over 181 survey question results from numerous sources, including these questions from a range of decades:
Would you say you're more likely to get coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts? Source: NPR Poll Sep, 2008
Which (2008) presidential (election) candidate would you rather sit down and have a cup of coffee or a beer with--Barack Obama or John McCain? Source: CBS News Poll Jul, 2008
In the past year, have you ever ordered...caffeine-free coffee? Source: Health & Nutrition Study Sep, 1992
Do you use...instant (rather than regular ground) coffee...most often because of cost, convenience or taste? Source: Roper Report 75-3 Feb, 1975
Would you say you are using more, less, or about the same amount of...instant coffee in your home as you did before the war? Source: Roper Commercial Survey Jan, 1948
Each search result provides the survey question as shown above, plus a description of the population surveyed, the percentages of answers given, and descriptions of the survey methodology.
iPoll is accessible from Primo, as well as the Electronic Data Service page. It requires a University of Waterloo email address to log in.
For more information, contact:
Liaison Librarian for History, Independent Studies, and Political Science
Ext. 35417
University of Waterloo Library
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
519 888 4883
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