Gallup GPSS Polling Series

The Gallup Poll Social Series (GPSS) is a set of public opinion surveys designed to monitor U.S. adults’ views on numerous social, economic, and political topics. The topics are arranged thematically across 12 surveys. Gallup administers these surveys during the same month every year, since 2000 or 2001 to present, and includes the survey’s core trend questions in the same order for each administration. Using this consistent standard allows for unprecedented analysis of changes in trend data that are not susceptible to question order bias and seasonal effects. GPSS survey microdata are provided in cumulative datasets that present responses to questions asked in more than one survey year. Learn more about GPSS at Gallup.  

The Gallup Poll Social Series are topical polls that are conducted during the same month each year. There are two types of variables in this dataset. 

  • Basic Indicators include variables that are available for all months assessing the state of the nation, extensive demographic questions, weights, interview information etc. For example: "Presidential approval - presapp". These variables allow you to do monthly time-period data analysis.  
  • Thematic variables include variables that are available only for the designated month. For example. "Foreign Leaders respect president - ldrs_respect" is available only in the "Feb - World Affairs" survey. These variables allow you to do yearly time-period data analysis.  Please see Documentation below for monthly topics. 

You can use the search function in Excel to find variables across the workbook to check the type of variables you want to use. This can help you determine which month of the GPSS you need.

Please note: Individual monthly surveys within the Gallup Poll Social Series may have additional topical questions and also questions about other issues that may not appear in the cumulative microdata datasets. Microdata for these individual monthly surveys may appear in Roper EXPRESS. 

More information about this survey is available in Gallup’s methodology document. In addition, each file has an Excel sheet showing which questions were asked in each year, and providing full question wording. 

  • January: Mood of the Nation 
  • February: World Affairs Poll 
  • March: Environment 
  • April: Economy and Personal Finance 
  • May:  Values and Beliefs 
  • June: Minority Relations/Race Relations 
    • This survey includes topics that were previously represented in the GPSS Minority Relations Survey that ran through 2016.  This survey was conducted in November 2018. See also the June “Minority Rights and Relations” segment of the GPSS. 
  • July: Consumption 
  • August: Work and Education 
  • September: Governance 
  • October: Crime 
  • November: Healthcare 
  • December: Lifestyle 
  • Confidence in Institutions Survey 
    • In 1973 Gallup started measuring the confidence level in several US institutions like Congress, Presidency, Supreme Court, Police and more. This dataset covers 1973-2022.  Data was collected biannually from 1973-1983 and is now collected once per year since 1984. Polls typically have 1,180 US respondents each year.  
  • Honesty and Ethics in Professions Survey 
    • In 1976 Gallup started measuring US perceptions of honesty and ethics of a list of professions. This dataset covers 1976-2022.  

Before using these datasets, please be aware of the following restrictions:

  • Only William & Mary faculty, staff, and students may download, use, and manipulate the data.
  • You may create reports and publish externally, redistribute, and manipulate such reports, so long as such externally distributed reports do not contain only Gallup data and so long as Gallup data are not included in a report in a quantity or specificity that could reasonably be deemed to be a substitute for acquiring the data from Gallup.
  • William & Mary affiliates may not share Gallup data with any third party. 
  • Reports must include attribution when Gallup data are included without modification or are used as a direct source of analysis. 

Dataset Files

Download each file in this dataset: