United States Historical Election Returns Series

Investigator(s): Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

The United States Historical Election Returns series was developed by ICPSR and was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. ICPSR's holdings of historical election data cover the years 1788-1990 and consist of several discrete datasets that contain county- and state-level returns for all elections to the offices of president, governor, United States senator, and United States representative. ICPSR distributes three major general election data collections: United States Historical Election Returns, 1824-1968 (ICPSR 0001), General Election Data for the United States, 1950-1990 (ICPSR 0013), and United States Historical Election Returns, 1788-1823 (ICPSR 0079). ICPSR 0001 contains state files that list county- level returns for over 90 percent of all elections to the offices of president, governor, United States senator, and United States representative for all parties and candidates from 1824 to 1968, as well as special elections and regularly-scheduled contests. ICPSR 0013 consists of national files containing county-level returns for elections to the offices of president, governor, United States senator, and United States representative from 1950 to 1990. Also included in this collection are returns for one additional statewide office, usually attorney general or secretary of state, for those states that elected state offices in the period 1970-1990. ICPSR 0079 is an extension of the general election collection (ICPSR 0001) and covers the preceding years, 1788-1823, going back to the occurrence of the first elections held under the United States Constitution. This collection contains data for elections to the offices of president, governor, and United States representative for the years 1788-1823. These data, recorded chiefly at the county level, consist of only about half of the possible returns for elections in this period and are less complete than the body of returns available for the years from 1824-present. The Candidate Name and Constituency Totals, 1788-1990 (ICPSR 0002) data collection provides the names of candidates, candidates' political party name and ICPSR party ID code, and the number of votes received by each candidate for elections between 1788 and 1900. The data include county-level returns for over 90 percent of all elections to the offices of president, governor, United States representative (1824-1990), and United States senator (1912-1990). The dataset also includes returns for approximately two-thirds of all elections to the offices of president, governor, United States senator, and United States representative for the period 1788-1823. It contains returns for all parties and candidates (as well as scattering vote) contesting general elections and special elections anywhere in the nation. Information is also included on elections for which returns are available only at the constituency level and therefore not found in the county-level files of election returns in the other collections. Beginning with the 1968 elections, returns for one additional statewide office were included. Also included are 1990 data from the District of Columbia for United States senator and United States representative.

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Journal Article
2025
Anderson, D. Mark, Charles, Kerwin Kofi, Karbownik, Krzysztof, Rees, Daniel I., Steffens, Camila Civil rights protests and election outcomes: Exploring the effects of the poor people's campaign. Explorations in Economic History. 97, .
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2025
Bateman, David Alexander Democratization in the USA? The impact of antebellum suffrage qualifications on politics and policy. Journal of Politics. 87, (1), 50-69.
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2025
Tricaud, Clemence, Wacziarg, Romain Electoral Margins and Political Competition. .
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2024
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2024
Han, Ze, Milner, Helen V., Mitchener, Kris James The Deep Roots of American Populism. .
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2024
Herreno, Juan, Morales, Matias, Pedemonte, Mathieu Economic voting during the Great Depression. Journal of Historical Political Economy. 3, (4), 607-628.
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2024
Hirano, Shigeo, Snyder, James M. Measuring the partisan behavior of U.S. newspapers, 1880 to 1980. Journal of Economic History. 84, (2), 554-592.
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2024
Jeong, Dahyeon, Shenoy, Ajay The targeting and impact of partisan gerrymandering: Evidence from a legislative discontinuity. Review of Economics and Statistics. 106, (3), 814-828.
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2024
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2024
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2024
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2024
Medici, Carlo Essays in Labor Economics, Political Economy, and Economic History. Northwestern University. [dissertation]
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2024
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2023
Anderson, D. Mark, Charles, Kerwin, Karbownik, Krzysztof, Rees, Daniel I, Steffens, Camila Civil Rights Protests and Election Outcomes: Exploring the Effects of the Poor People's Campaign. NBER Working Paper No. 31973. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
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2023
Bazzi, Samuel, Brodeur, Abel, Fiszbein, Martin, Haddad, Joanne Frontier History and Gender Norms in the United States. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series. 31079, Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
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2023
Bernini, Andrea, Facchini, Giovanni, Tabellini, Marco, Testa, Cecilia Black Empowerment and White Mobilization: The Effects of the Voting Rights Act. Department of Economics Discussion Paper Series Number 1011. Oxford, England: University of Oxford.
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2023
Buggle, Johannes C., Vlachos, Stephanos Populist persuasion in electoral campaigns: Evidence from Bryan's Unique Whistle-Stop Tour. Economic Journal. 133, (649), 493-515.
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2023
DeLuca, Kevin Newspaper Endorsements, Candidate Quality, and Election Outcomes in the United States. Harvard University. [dissertation]
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2023
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2023
Herreno, Juan David, Morales, Matias, Pedemonte, Mathieu The Effect of Local Economic Shocks on Local and National Elections. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Working Paper No. 23-08. SSRN.
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2023
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2023
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2023
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2023
Sabet, Navid, Winter, Christoph Immigrant Legalization and the Redistribution of State Funds: Evidence from the 1986 IRCA. CESifo Working Paper No. 10787. Munich, Germany: Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH; SSRN.
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2022
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2022
Harvey, Anna, Mattia, Taylor Does money have a conservative bias? Estimating the causal impact of Citizens United on state legislative preferences. Public Choice. 191, (3-4), 417-441.
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2022
Kaplan, Ethan, Spenkuch, Jorg L., Sullivan, Rebecca Partisan spatial sorting in the United States: A theoretical and empirical overview. Journal of Public Economics. 211, .
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2022
Masters, Ryan K., Young, Michael P. The power of religious activism in Tocqueville's America: The second Great Awakening and the rise of temperance and abolitionism in New York state. Social Science History. 46, (3), 473-504.
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2022
McLeman, Robert, Heath, George, Vollan, Charles, Robertson, Colin Letter: Drought Affected 1976 Presidential Election Results in South Dakota. Research Square. [preprint]
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2022
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2022
Moreira, Diana, Perez, Santiago Who Benefits from Meritocracy?. IZA Discussion Paper No. 15341. Bonn, Germany: IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
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2022
Ramanathan, Kumar, Kalmoe, Nathan P. Partisanship and racial attitudes in U.S. civil war enlistment. Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. 7, (3), 460-483.
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2022
Weaver, M. 'Let our ballots secure what our bullets have won': Union veterans and the making of radical reconstruction. American Political Science Review. 116, (4), 1309-1324.
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2022
Yun, Minjae Three Essays in Law and Economics: Consequences and Formation of Legal Rules in Other Markets. Claremont Graduate University.
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2021
Arroyo Abad, Leticia, Maurer, Noel Do Pandemics Shape Elections? Retrospective Voting in the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic in the United States. CEPR Discussion Paper. DP15678, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
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2021
Barrios, John Manuel, Hochberg, Yael V., Macciocchi, Daniele Rugged Entrepreneurs: The Geographic and Cultural Contours of New Business Formation. Working Paper No. 28606. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
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2021
Bergan, Daniel E., Lacy, Stephen, Carnahan, Dustin, Stamm, Michael, Krier, Daniel H. Reinforcement in the aggregate: Partisan newspaper circulation and the Presidential vote, 1900-1928. Journalism Studies. .
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2021
Choi, Jiwon, Kuziemko, Ilyana, Washington, Ebonya, Wright, Gavin Local Economic and Political Effects of Trade Deals: Evidence from NAFTA. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Papers. 29525, .
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2021
Masera, Federico, Rosenberg, Michele Slavocracy: Economic Elite and the Support for Slavery. SSRN.
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2021
Reisinger, James Southernization: The Long-Term Effect of Migration on Racial Prejudice and Political Preferences. SSRN.
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2021
Smith, Cory Land Concentration and Long-Run Development: Evidence from the Frontier United States. .
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Journal Article
2021
Wang, Tianyi Media, pulpit, and populist persuasion: Evidence from Father Coughlin. American Economic Review. 111, (9), 3064-3092.
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Preprint
2020
Abad, Leticia, Maurer, Noel Do Pandemics Shape Elections? Retrospective voting in the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic in the United States. SSRN. [preprint]
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2020
Alsan, Marcella, Eriksson, Katherine, Niemesh, Gregory Understanding the Success of the Know-Nothing Party. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series. 28078, Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
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Journal Article
2020
Bateman, David A. Partisan polarization on Black suffrage, 1785-1868. Perspectives on Politics. 18, (2), 470-491.
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Journal Article
2020
Boatright, Robert G., Moscardelli, Vincent G., Vickrey, Clifford D. Primary election timing and voter turnout. Election Law Journal. 19, (4), 472-485.
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Journal Article
2020
De Benedictis-Kessner, Justin, Warshaw, Christopher Accountability for the local economy at all levels of government in United States elections. American Political Science Review. 114, (3), 660-676.
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Thesis
2020
Greenberger, M. P. Deconstructing Democracy: How Congressional Elections Collapsed in the South After Reconstruction. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [thesis]
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