How to Access Decades of U.S. Public Opinion Polls Through Roper iPoll (Session 2 of 2, 3/4/26)

Why It Matters

Free access to Roper iPoll equips independent media with authoritative public‑opinion data, strengthening investigative reporting and evidence‑based commentary across the U.S. media landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Roper Center offers free year-long access to small media journalists.
• Archive contains nearly one million U.S. poll questions dating back to 1935.
• Search tools allow keyword, topic, and demographic filtering across polls.
• State‑level data added for past 15 years, with ongoing backfill.
• Cross‑tab functionality provides detailed demographic breakdowns when datasets exist.

Summary

The second session of the Roper iPoll webinar introduced a free, one‑year membership aimed at small news outlets and independent journalists, allowing them to tap into the Roper Center’s vast public‑opinion archive.

The archive holds roughly 915,000 U.S. poll questions from 1935 onward, contributed by over 3,000 organizations ranging from AARP to CNN. Users can search by keyword, curated topics, health categories, state, sample type, and interview date, and can narrow results with Boolean operators.

Presenters Alexis Bordal and Kathleen Welden highlighted practical examples, such as an immigration‑topic search that returned nearly 12,000 questions across 3,365 studies, and demonstrated cross‑tab downloads that break down responses by age, gender, or ethnicity when source datasets permit. They also stressed that every entry meets AAPOR‑style methodological standards.

For journalists and researchers, the platform democratizes access to decades of polling data, enabling richer storytelling, fact‑checking, and trend analysis without the cost barriers traditionally faced by larger newsrooms.

Original Description

From presidential approval ratings to interpreting constitutional questions, high-quality public opinion polls reveal how Americans think and feel about major political, social and economic topics. But sometimes, journalists may not know which polls have solid survey methodologies or know how to compare polling trends over time — and it can seem daunting to track down survey results from dozens of polling firms.

Roper iPoll can help journalists find the current and historical polling data they need. It’s a comprehensive opinion data research platform that offers member access to nearly a million survey and poll questions from 1935 to today.

Through America’s Voice Project, an endeavor of the Board of Directors of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University, eligible small media organizations and independent journalists can apply for a one-year membership to Roper iPoll.

Learn how Roper iPoll can inform your reporting in this webinar hosted by The Journalist’s Resource. This was the second of two webinars on this topic.

Kathleen Weldon, director of data operations at the Roper Center, cover how Roper iPoll members can use, understand and access:

- Keyword search and extensive filters

- Historical data

- Up-to-date data from leading polling firms

- Trends over time

- Full questionnaires and methodology details

- Custom charts, demographics, and citations