CQ Press Library

Additional Help Guides

Using Voting and Elections Collection

Use the Voting and Elections Collection to find info on:

  • The campaign and election process
  • The electorate, including some demographics, voter turnout, and voting rights
  • Roles of the Democratic, Republican, and third parties
  • Presidential, gubernatorial, and congressional elections, including people, outcomes, data, primary and general election processes

Find reference content by using the quick search box or selecting Browse Topics.

This video is a tutorial to use the CQ Voting & Elections Collection to find data and analysis on all aspects of American elections. This dynamic research tool provides in-depth insight into the American voter, major and minor political parties, campaigns and elections, and historical and modern races for Congress, the presidency, and governorships.

Find Primary and General election results for Presidential, Gubernatorial, and Congressional elections under the Election Results tab.  All data tables can be downloaded for manipulation or cited.

election results from the 2012 presidential primaries

To compare data from elections over time, select a tool below, and compare different types of data within the Voting and Elections Collection database.

For example, you can...

  • See how successful Republicans have been in your home county over time.
  • Find candidates or Congressional seats that have switched parties.
  • Learn what percentage of House incumbents have won or lost in the general election.
  • Track the Green Party's strongest candidates.

The Candidate Finder will give you the results of all elections in which a particular candidate has run.

john kerry election results over time

Vote Counts by Party, Office, and Area will pull specific election results.  For instance, the table below shows how Honolulu County voted in Presidential elections from 1980 to 2012, showing a huge spike in Democratic votes when Hawaii native Barack Obama ran for office.

vote count results in honolulu

House seats that changed party under Party Dominance is a great tool for tracking the shift in party dominance in the House.  Here, we see part of the list of seats that changed party in the mid-term elections following President Obama’s first election.

house seats that had a party change in 2010

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