The Cornell Center for Social Sciences (CCSS), in partnership with Cornell University Library (CUL), is pleased to provide data from Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
Dave Leip is an electrical engineer who began collecting election data as a hobby after the 1992 Presidential election. The comprehensiveness of his data (including U.S. presidential, house, and senate elections at state, county, and district level) is what makes it so useful for researchers. Data on votes for smaller parties and by various geographical levels, including congressional district and precinct, are difficult to compile because of the decentralization of the U.S. electoral system. This data can be (and has been) used in many research situations, such as comparing the rural and urban divide, why there are differences between polling results and the actual vote, how media coverage of issues persuade voters, and measuring state-level public opinion in the US, among other possibilities. See the bibliography below for additional examples of Cornell researchers who have used this data in preparing their publications.
How to Access Dave Leip Datasets
CCSS has made this collection available to Cornell faculty, staff, and students. You will be required to authenticate with your Net Id to download the data. Selected datasets, including U.S. Presidential, Senate, House of Representatives, Voter Registration, are downloadable using the links provided below. In some cases, noted below, CCSS has created and provided merged files to facilitate analysis. A chart of all available files and links to download is available on the Available Dave Leip Datasets At-a-Glance page.
Access Available Datasets
Versions verified February 2024. CCSS updates our Dave Leip collection quarterly.
U.S. Presidential General Elections, 1964-2020
- State and county-level returns
- Download the data by election year or download a cumulative file created by CCSS that merged Presidential election data from 1964-2020
- Congressional District-level returns for 2016-2020 are available here.
- State-level All-time Data for 1824-2020 are available here.
U.S. Senate General Elections, 2008-2022
- State and county-level returns
- Download the data by election year
U.S. House of Representatives Elections, 2006-2022
- State, county, and congressional-level returns
- Download the data by election year
Voter Registration and Turnout Data, 1992-2020
- State and county level returns
- Download the data by election year
Please see the list of fields available in each dataset here in Dave Leip’s Codebook.
How to Cite Dave Leip’s Data
Presidential Election Data - State & County Level
Leip, David. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. http://uselectionatlas.org. US President General - State and County Level Vote Data, 1964-2020. Catalog no. 446. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. Cornell Center for Social Sciences [distributor]. 2003-04-28. Version 3. https://doi.org/10.6077/dskr-cm17.
Presidential Election Data - Congressional District Level
Leip, David. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. http://uselectionatlas.org. US President General - Congressional District Level Vote Data, 2016-2020. Catalog no. 2895. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. Cornell Center for Social Sciences [distributor]. 2023-06-15. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.6077/220t-3r61.
Presidential Election Data - State Level All-Time
Leip, David. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. http://uselectionatlas.org. US President General - State-Level All-Time Vote Data, 1824-2020. Catalog no. 2896. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. Cornell Center for Social Sciences [distributor]. 2023-06-16. Version 2. https://doi.org/10.6077/5zxf-wm32.
Senate Election Data
Leip, David. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. http://uselectionatlas.org. US Senate General - County Level Vote Data, 2008-2022. Catalog no. 2874. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. Cornell Center for Social Sciences [distributor]. 2021-11-22. Version 2. https://doi.org/10.6077/d6c9-4717.
Congressional Election Data
Leip, David. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. http://uselectionatlas.org. US Representative General - County & Congressional District Level Vote Data, 2006-2022. Catalog no. 2846. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. Cornell Center for Social Sciences [distributor]. 2020-10-27. Version 5. https://doi.org/10.6077/xh53-rg17.
Voter Turnout Election Data
Leip, David. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. http://uselectionatlas.org. US General Election - County Level Voter Registration & Turnout Data, 1992-2020. Catalog no. 2509. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. Cornell Center for Social Sciences [distributor]. 2008-05-19. Version 7. https://doi.org/10.6077/h0y1-q517.
Additional Election Data Resources
Can’t Find the Election Data You Want in Our Archive?
Additional types of election data are available at the Dave Leip website, such as gubernatorial elections, presidential primaries, and Precinct, County, City/Town, & Congressional District Level Vote Data on a state-by-state basis.
Additional publicly available election return data are available at the MIT Election Data and Science Dataverse.
Additional voter turnout data may be available at the United States Elections Project.
Have Additional Questions About This or Other Data?
For questions about this data, please get in touch with us at socialsciences@cornell.edu for assistance.
To inquire about other data you are looking for, as a Cornell affiliate, you may contact us using this form.
How do I Get Cited When I Use Dave Leip Data?
Please inform us of your publication that used this data so we can add it to our bibliography of related articles, as seen in the Cornell-authored Journal Articles and Dissertations Citing Dave Leip’s Election Data section below.
Cornell-authored Journal Articles and Dissertations Citing Dave Leip’s Election Data
Brown, Trevor, Mettler, Suzanne, and Puzzi, Samantha. "When Rural and Urban Become “Us” versus “Them”: How a Growing Divide is Reshaping American Politics." The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics Volume 19 Issue 3 (2021-12): 365-393 https://doi.org/10.1515/for-2021-2029.
Djourelova, Milena. "Persuasion through Slanted Language: Evidence from the Media Coverage of Immigration." American Economic Review Volume 113 Issue 3 (2023-03): 800-835 https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20211537.
Dorf, Michael C. "Constitutional Courts in Defective Democracies." Virginia Journal of International Law Volume 62 Issue 47 (2021-08-12): 47-68 https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3902776
Enns, Peter, and Lagodny, Julius. "Forecasting the 2020 Electoral College Winner: The State Presidential Approval/State Economy Model." PS: Political Science & Politics Volume 54 Issue 1 (2020-10-15): 81-85 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096520001407..
Enns, Peter, Lagodny, Julius, and Schuldt, Jonathon P. "Understanding the 2016 US Presidential Polls: The Importance of Hidden Trump Supporters." Statistics, Politics and Policy Volume 8 Issue 1 (2017-08-21): 41-63 https://doi.org/10.1515/spp-2017-0003.
Gollust, Sarah E., Frenier, Chris, Tait, Margaret, et al. "Television airings of U.S. federal COVID-19 public service announcements in 2020 were associated with market-level political orientation, not COVID-19 rates." PLOS ONE Volume 17 Issue 10 (2022-10-06): e0275595 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275595.
Gollust, Sarah E., Frenier, Chris, Tait, Margaret, et al. "When talk is not cheap: What factors predict political campaign messaging on social determinants of health issues?." World Medical & Health Policy Volume 14 Issue 3 (2022-09): 464-489 https://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.470.
Gollust, Sarah E., Qin, Xuanzi, Wilcock, Andrew, et al. "Search and You Shall Find: Geographic Characteristics Associated With Google Searches During the Affordable Care Act’s First Enrollment Period." Medical Care Research and Review Volume 74 Issue 6 (2017-12): 723-735 https://doi.org/10.1177/1077558716660944.
Gollust, Sarah E., Wilcock, Andrew, Fowler, Erika Franklin, et al. "TV Advertising Volumes Were Associated With Insurance Marketplace Shopping And Enrollment In 2014." Health Affairs Volume 37 Issue 6 (2018-06): 956-963 https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1507.
Johnson, Christopher P. "Independence in the Interregnum: Delayed Presidential Transitions and the GSA Administrator's Ascertainment under the Presidential Transition Act of 1963." Cornell Law Review Volume 107 Issue 1 (2021-12) .
Lagodny, Julius, Jones, Rebekah, Koch, Juliana, et al. "A Validation and Extension of State-Level Public Policy Mood: 1956–2020." State Politics & Policy Quarterly (2022-10-28): 1-14 https://doi.org/10.1017/spq.2021.26.
Lim, Claire S.H. "Media Influence on Courts: Evidence from Civil Case Adjudication." American Law and Economics Review Volume 17 Issue 1 (2015-03-26): 87-126 https://doi.org/10.1093/aler/ahv005.
Monnat, Shannon M., and Brown, David L. "More than a rural revolt: Landscapes of despair and the 2016 Presidential election." Journal of Rural Studies Volume 55 (2017-09-14): 227-236 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.08.010.
Neumann, Markus, Moore, Steven T., Baum, Laura, et al. "Politicizing Masks? Examining the Volume and Content of Local News Coverage of Face Coverings in the U.S. Through the COVID-19 Pandemic." Political Communication (2023-08-15) https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2023.2239181
.Vasi, Ion Bogdan, Strang, David, and van de Rijt, Arnout. "Tea and Sympathy: The Tea Party Movement and Republican Precommitment to Radical Conservatism in the 2011 Debt-Limit Crisis." Mobilization: An International Quarterly Volume 19 Issue 1 (2014-02-01): 1-22 https://doi.org/10.17813/maiq.19.1.w30q317v25r35603.