US political campaigns base their strategies and tactics on data collected from more than 200 million voting-age Americans.

Ever wonder how much of each group make up the American voting bloc? Find raw data from the '16 and '18 elections broken out by a variety of factors (click on "validated voters database" link).

This article breaks down demographic data to show what it means for American elections. According to the latest US Census, the US is growing increasingly diverse. As the population becomes more diverse, so does the electorate. Analyzing the...

This University of California, Santa Barbara archive compiles presidential election data from 1789 to the present, including popular vote totals, turnout figures, and contextual resources that explain how the electoral process and political landscape have evolved.

What’s actually at stake when someone casts their vote in a US election? CNN’s “Election 101” podcast series provides ten episodes summarizing some of the basics of democratic elections. The ins and outs of voting are highlighted in 15-minute episodes on voter registration and voting by mail. Additional segments highlight how the electoral system works, how ballots are counted, the Electoral College, why it takes so long to get election results, and more.

From shouting candidates’ names, to hanging chads to electronic scanning, the nature of voting has a long, sometimes bumpy history in the United States. See descriptions and images in chronological order with this digestible timeline.

Three companies make up over 90% of the US market share around voting systems, and like any company, they're priorities aren't always aligned with the public's. Dive into the industry of voting machines in this investigation piece from the Guardian.

What compels an audience shifts over time, meaning yesterday's popular speeches might not go over the same way if delivered today. However, impactful campaign speeches across time share some qualities, including taking the audience seriously, inviting listeners to engage with or respond to presented materials, and using everyday, informal language. Additionally, US political candidates typically promote themselves in their speeches, an approach initially considered vulgar in Australia and Britain.

This interactive tool lets users explore the outcomes of every US presidential election from George Washington's uncontested 1789 victory through 2024, showing how electoral votes, state results, and shifting coalitions shaped each race.

Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm with Russian and conservative ties, harvested data from Facebook users through a research tool that tracked interests across social connections on Facebook. Those profiles were used for targeted ad campaigns supporting Donald Trump in 2016 and pro-Brexit ads. A whistleblower originally said the private data of more than 50 million Facebook users was compromised, but a Facebook officer later estimated the number was around 87 million. Facebook settled the class-action lawsuit over the privacy breach for $725M in 2022.

Presidential pollsters in the US have had some embarrassing failures. Here’s a catalog of those miscalls, from the scholar who literally wrote the book on them.

The Community Explorer is an interactive tool that brings the power of big data and machine learning to the equity-related policy discussion. Search by economic profile and county and see the country from a different lens.

Courts randomly draw prospective jurors from these sources, then mail qualification questionnaires. Those who qualify may be summoned for voir dire, where judges and attorneys question candidates before seating a final jury.

In a 2016 interview, journalist David Daley explained how Republicans used data-driven targeting after the 2010 census to lock in durable advantages, comparing modern gerrymandering strategies to the analytics revolution in baseball.

In settling on the rules for how the US elects presidents, the Founding Fathers coalesced around a system built on two inputs: Votes from individual voters, and the accumulation of votes from specially chosen Electors. The latter comprise the US Electoral College, and this Washington Post article explains why it exists, how it works, and how its 538 electors collectively decide presidential elections.

Presidential debates in the US are highly-touted events viewed as the capstone of a campaign, but their impact on the overall polling is often undetectable. Nonetheless, the televised events can be really entertaining as candidates sweat under the pressure of a live mass audience, and most morning after news round-ups contain some of the event's notable—or cringey—moments. Here's a quick, three-minute video of highlights of some of the more fascinating moments from US primaries.

Pollsters track more than just politics: From civil rights to war declarations, go back and see how people felt about major events in the US with this timeline.

Straw polls had been used in the 19th century, but it wasn't until George Gallup's use of random sampling in 1936 that the art became a science.

QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more, collected through the US census. Interactive tables, maps, and charts synthesize census data. A drop-down menu allows users to...

The USA has seen some crazy elections. Election fraud is vanishingly rare now, but here are the craziest cases of election fraud in U.S. history.

A presidential candidate is declared the winner once they reach 270 of the Electoral College’s 538 votes. This interactive map from 270 to win shows how winning individual states shifts the path to victory on election night.

Inflation, Crime, and Abortion—see a breakdown of voter preferences by age, race, and gender, along with what topics are top of mind for Americans.

The 2010 Supreme Court ruling allowed corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections independently of candidates—while leaving direct contribution limits intact—expanding the role of wealthy donors and outside influence in American political campaigns.

This map by CNN shows race and ethnicity across the United States. America is more diverse and has more people than ever before. According to the 2020 census, much of its growth is occurring in and around metropolitan areas. By plotting the US...

The National Conference of State Legislatures maintains a live tracker showing where mid-decade congressional redistricting is underway, detailing which states are pursuing new maps, the legislative and constitutional methods being used, and how courts are responding as the 2026 elections approach.

This data visualization shows the social media platforms where advertisers spent the most money in the first six months of 2024, with Facebook leading the pack taking home 36.3% of US social ad spend.

A technician bought an old, likely-decommissioned voting machine from 2013 and took it apart to see how a would-be hacker might be able to exploit its vulnerabilities. Get a sense of the needs for secure, up-to-date voting machines with this...

Founded in 2018 by MIT graduates, Kalshi won a federal appeals court ruling in October 2024 that allowed it to offer election contracts in the US. When prediction markets predicted President Donald Trump's win (more accurately than most polls), prediction markets were thrust into the public eye.

Bad actors are not solely using deepfake technology to manipulate images. They can also manipulate audio for political purposes. In this example, eligible voters are asked to skip the 2024 New Hampshire Democratic primary.

The latest data from the US Postal Service's change of address request system shows a decline in migration in 2022. See where people are moving and where they are leaving with this data breakdown.

The red–blue color scheme used on election night maps emerged in the 20th century as television networks adopted color graphics to make results easier to follow. The association of red with Republicans and blue with Democrats later became standardized.

Want to understand the basics of America’s current energy situation? The National Academies, advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine, provides objective information about the United States’ current energy sources and uses, as well as a look forward to the future of energy.

This article lists the 15 most striking research findings by Pew Research Center in 2022. The topics highlighted represent a sample of the Center’s research, compiled through surveys. Findings examine public opinion around the biggest news events...