Research Guides: Political Science: Websites

Fact Checking websites

FactCheck.org/ A nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.
PolitiFact Examines the accuracy of statements made by politicians in the U.S. Their main feature is the Truth-O-Meter, where they rate statements as: True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False and False, and Pants-on-Fire (which goes to the most ridiculously false statements). Run by the Tampa Bay Times.

Websites

Americans and the World U.S. public opinion on international affairs.
Project VoteSmart Project Vote Smart (PVS) provides a comprehensive database about thousands of candidates and elected officials for President, Congress, Governors and State Legislators.
Roll Call
Provides detailed information on current legislation and events in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Editorial commentaries by noted experts also are included.
Voting America Voting America examines long-term patterns in presidential election politics in the United States from the 1840s to today as well as patterns in recent congressional elections.
Whitehouse Council of Economic Advisors The Council of Economic Advisers, an agency within the Executive Office of the President, is charged with providing the President objective economic advice on the formulation of both domestic and international economic policy.
American National Election Studies (ANES) ANES (American National Election Studies) is a survey conducted by leading scholars of political behavior of voters during each general election. This websites offers an archive of free datasets from 1952 to the present.
International Criminal Court Learn about the structure of the court, information about the court, open investigations and closed cases, rules and regulations of the court. Also includes annual reports and a bibliography of relevant texts.
Federal Register The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.
The United States Government Manual The United States Government Manual is the "official handbook" of the Federal Government.
Courtlistener Search millions of opinions by case name, topic, or citation.
FBI Records: The Vault
Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
PEW Research Center In addition to providing reports on global developments, PEW polls populations on their opinions of various aspects of the world.
American Civil Liberties Union
The ACLU works to preserve and defend the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) Blog SCOTUSblog is devoted to comprehensively covering the U.S. Supreme Court—without bias and according to the highest journalistic and legal ethical standards. Reports on the merits of each case, before, after and during. Also provides a summary of court news each day, and reference material such as statistics and court facts. Includes a "search the archives" feature.
Sunlight Foundation The Sunlight Foundation is devoted to encouraging transparent and accountable government through access to digitized government data. This website is provides news and updates on current government issues and current information regarding government transparency and accountability.

News Sources

Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window Provides cover-to-cover full text for 131 national & international newspapers and selective full text for more than 335 U.S newspapers. In addition, full-text television & radio news transcripts are provided.

Al Jazeera (Qatar) English language version of Middle East's most influential independent news source.
British Broadcast Corporation
BBC, offers daily news as text, video and in 43 languages.
Euro News
Contains text and video news from the European continent; covers the whole world.
Jerusalem Post Extensive news and editorial commentary from Israel.
PBS Newshour
Provides transcripts of its recent television broadcasts, and searchable archives of past programs.
Federal Register The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.
International Law Observer A blog dedicated to reports, commentary and the discussion of topical issues of public international law as well as EC/EU-law. Includes a substantial list of links for public international law.

Organizations and Agencies

USA.gov
Quick links to US government websites.
World Bank
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.
Tax Policy Center Provides comprehensive overview of US tax policy. Annual reports are available under the About Us tab and offer a recap of the previous year's tax legislation, testimonies to Congress, tax forums and forecasts. From the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities We are a nonpartisan research and policy institute. We pursue federal and state policies designed both to reduce poverty and inequality and to restore fiscal responsibility in equitable and effective ways. We apply our deep expertise in budget and tax issues and in programs and policies that help low-income people, in order to help inform debates and achieve better policy outcomes.
Center for American Women and Politics
Sponsored by Rutgers University this is an excellent site for women and politics. One section has current and historical information on women candidates, election results, etc. Other areas include news and analysis, and links to other major sites.
United Nations Human Development Data
United Nations Human Development Reports
USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse