Polling on Values

Public opinion polling on values is extensive. This research spans the gamut, from probing surveys of basic beliefs conducted by scholars and market researchers to snapshots of the popular mood put out by news and polling organizations. Below is a guide that will be expanded and updated over time.

The World Values Survey

Perhaps the most interesting and authoritative source of opinion data on values, run by University of Michigan professor Ronald Inglehart, with data from scores of countries going back to the early 1970s.

• Website for World Values Survey
• Modernization and Post-Modernization, Ronald Inglehart's important analysis of the key finding from the World Values Survey.
• Read an excerpt of The Crisis of American Values, Wayne Baker's in-depth analysis of U.S. values drawing on data from the World Values Survey.
• "Globalization and Post-modern Values." Article by Inglehart that draws on WVS to analyze shifting values worldwide.

Environics

The Canadian research firm, Environics, has been gathering data on U.S. and Canadian values for over a decade. This is some of the best data available on American values, although access to it is limited. The offshoot firm American Environics and its associated think tank, the Breakthrough Institute, have provided in-depth analyses of this data and its implications for U.S. political debates.

• Read an excerpt of American Backlash, a book by Environics founder Michael Adams that draws on a decade of survey data.
• Read an essay based on Fire and Ice, Adams' book comparing U.S. and Canadian values.
• Website for American Environics
• American Prospect article on work by American Environics to create a "roadmap to a progressive majority."

Polls and Surveys

Polls with findings on values come out regularly and vary in quality and depth. Below are links to various polls going back a decade.

• The website PollingReport.com provides a good summary of various opinion polls on values.
• Major Kaiser Foundation poll on values from 1998.