What is This, and Who is Dave Leip? An election data source made available to Cornell researchers through CCSS, in conjunction with the Cornell University Libraries, providing data from presidential to district level. 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, as well as some precinct-level data) 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.

Dave Leip Election Data .