Survey Says

Polling American opinion became an obsession in the post-World War II era.  What subjects were ordinary Americans asked to weigh in? How were they canvassed? What did they think? How was “public opinion” mobilized in key political and moral arguments in American life? What were the "hot-button" questions posed at the time and how has that changed over time?

  • 70s Public Opinion Information (includes Odum and Polling Report)
  • Gallup Poll
  • Roper Center
  • General Social Survey/NORC

Public Opinion Research for the 1970s

  • Odum Institute Archive Database maintained by the University of North Carolina provides access to the Harris Poll, Carolina Poll, Southern Poll, National Network of State Polls and Knight Foundation Community Poll collections. Raw data included.
  • PollingReport Aggregates polling data from dozens of prominent pollsters.

Gallup Poll

The Gallup Poll. This statistics tool compares citizens' responses – region by region, nation by nation – to questions of vital importance to the world today, on topics such as economic conditions, government and business, healthcare and well-being, infrastructure and education.  Living record of more than 70 years (c. 1935) of public opinion research.

Gallup Analytics / Gallup Brain The Gallup Brain is a searchable data vizualizations.

Gallup Poll Cumulative Index, 1935-1977 (Print Only/Online through HathiTrust)  Note, this is just the index of subjects.  For example see Coretta Scott King, 1970

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Roper Center

Roper Center for Public Opinion. Our mission is to collect, preserve, and disseminate public opinion data; to serve as a resource to help improve the practice of survey research; and to broaden the understanding of public opinion through the use of survey data in the United States and around the world.

Provides access to summary-level (aggregate) and micro-level (raw) public opinion data. While the data collection focuses strongly on United States public opinion, it also includes growing collections of (micro-level) European, Latin American (Latin American Databank) and Japanese (JPOLL) polls. The data archive (micro-level data) is searchable by keyword, date, and survey organization. The iPOLL database (summary-level data) is searchable by keyword, subject /or survey organization and survey sponsor; it provides question and response level data. The Roper Center resources require users to set up individual accounts in order to gain access to the data.

  • Search iPoll.   Put in your topic, say, Marriage

  • Under Filters, scroll down to Decades

Important: Users must create a distinct account within the Roper system after authenticating with Harvard Key  to search and download data.

General Social Survey, National Opinion Resource Center (NORC)

General Social Survey:  ​​​Since 1972, the General Social Survey (GSS) has provided politicians, policymakers, and scholars with a clear and unbiased perspective on what Americans think and feel about such issues as national spendi​ng priorities, crime and punishment, intergroup relations, and confidence in institutions.

Personal-interview survey designed to monitor changes in both social characteristics and attitudes currently being conducted in the United States 1972-present. Raw data included.  An American profile -- opinions and behavior, 1972-1989: opinion results on 300 high-interest issues derived from the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center  Opinion for each year 1972-1989 is given for numerous topics

The GSS contains a standard 'core' of demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions, plus topics of special interest. Many of the core questions have remained unchanged since 1972 to facilitate time-trend studies as well as replication of earlier findings. Registration required.

Additional Resources for Opinion Polls for the 1970s