Research Guides: POLS 021: American Parties and Elections (SC): Demographics (US, State, District)

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Social Explorer
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Easy way to find Census (and ACS) data from particular years (1790-present). Lets you create tables or maps including the questions that interest you. Data can be reported at the national level, down to the Census tract level (including Congressional district level).

Social Explorer is much easier to use than the main Census and American FactFinder sites, although be forewarned that not all questions on the Census and/or American Community Survey (e.g. language spoken at home) are included in the Social Explorer dataset.

Other Sources

Statistical Abstract of the United States
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The ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. (National and state levels)

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. Series (1878-2012)
Archived editions of the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. up to 2012 are available via the website of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Historical Statistics of the United States
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Contains more than 37,000 annual time series of quantitative historical information covering population, work and welfare, economic structure and performance, governance, and international relations. Covers the colonial period to the present.

Using Social Explorer to Research Congressional Districts

1. Decide if you'd like to create a map or a table of data. This example shows creating a table.

Choose the dataset you'd like to use, the "geographic type" (e.g. nation, Congressional district), state (if applicable), and geographic area (if applicable). Use Command + click (or CTRL + click on a PC) to select multiple Congressional districts for comparison.

Once you've selected the geographic areas, click Proceed to Tables.

2. You'll see a table with the requested statistical information. As shown in the example below, you can view the data or download it in Excel or other formats.

In this example, you might look for demographic patterns in these particular districts and how they correlate with voting patterns. Or you could examine shifts in these particular districts by comparing the 2010 data with the 2012 data.