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Historical US Presidential Vote Data
Government & Civic Records
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About
This dataset provides a detailed historical record of US Presidential Election results spanning from 1976 to 2020. It was compiled as foundational material for a Python Data Visualization Essentials guide, making it an excellent resource for educational exercises and practical applications in data science. The information is derived from generally available public internet sources and is designed to inspire data scientists, statisticians, programmers, and enthusiasts alike in their analytical pursuits.
Columns
- year: The election year, ranging from 1976 to 2020.
- state: The name of the US state where the votes were cast (e.g., COLORADO, NEW YORK).
- state_po: The two-letter postal code abbreviation for the US state (e.g., CO, NY).
- state_fips: The Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code for the state.
- state_cen: The US Census Bureau's region or division code for the state.
- state_ic: The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) code for the state.
- office: Indicates the office being contested, which is consistently "US PRESIDENT".
- candidate: The name of the political candidate.
- party_detailed: The detailed name of the political party associated with the candidate (e.g., REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT).
- writein: A boolean value indicating whether the candidate was a write-in.
- candidatevotes: The number of votes received by the individual candidate.
- totalvotes: The total number of votes cast in that specific state for the presidential election.
- version: A version identifier for the dataset, consistently '20210113'.
- notes: General notes or observations, typically 'NA' for this dataset.
- party_simplified: A simplified classification of the political party (e.g., OTHER, DEMOCRAT).
Distribution
The dataset is available as a single CSV file named
1976-2020-president.csv, with a file size of 514.15 kB. It contains 15 distinct columns and typically consists of 4287 records, providing a robust collection of election data.Usage
This dataset is ideal for data visualization exercises and serves as a core component for a Python Data Visualization Essentials guide. It is perfectly suited for learning and applying various data analysis techniques, including:
- Exploratory data analysis of historical election trends.
- Developing data visualization dashboards and reports.
- Practicing classification and regression tasks in machine learning.
- Supporting programming projects focused on political science or public data.
Coverage
The dataset covers US Presidential Elections from 1976 up to 2020. It includes data for all 51 US states (including Washington D.C.), providing geographic scope across the United States. While not explicitly demographic, it captures election outcomes at the state level.
License
CC0: Public Domain
Who Can Use It
This dataset is highly valuable for a wide range of users, including:
- Data scientists seeking real-world election data for analysis and modelling.
- Statisticians interested in political trends and voting patterns.
- Programmers developing applications that require historical election information.
- Enthusiasts of US politics and data-driven insights.
- Students and educators using Python for data analysis and visualization coursework.
- Researchers studying electoral history and political science.
Dataset Name Suggestions
- US Presidential Election Results 1976-2020
- Historical US Presidential Vote Data
- American Presidential Election Outcomes (1976-2020)
- US Election Data for Data Visualization
Attributes
Original Data Source: Historical US Presidential Vote Data
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