Research Guides: Marketing: Public Opinion Polls

Public Opinion Polls

Public opinion polls can help determine trends in opinions of certain markets and consumer groups. These polls tend to be broader in scope and can be used in combination with primary data you collect that is more targeted to your needs. Some research firms share their public opinion polling data freely online. The following represent a few firms with Canadian, American, and international perspectives.

Gallup
Gallup polls cover a variety of social topics such as: the economy, education, politics, and well-being to Business Topics such as B2B, customer engagement, marketplace, retail, and strengths.
News & Polls (Ipsos-North America)
Ipsos collects survey data for brands, companies, and institutions around the world. It explores market potential and market trends; tests products and advertising; studies audiences and their perceptions of various media; and measures public opinion trends.
Polls (Mainstreet Research)
One of Canada’s top public opinion and market research firms.
Nielsen Canada Insights
Nielsen is a global consumer market research firm. Access market research insights by content type (news, reports) or by category (consumer, global, media & entertainment).
Pew Research Center
A nonpartisan fact tank that conducts public online polling, demographic research, media content analysis, and other empirical social science research.

Library Databases

Along with opinion polling data from research firms, these library databases are a great place to start searching for public polling data and may enhance publicly available data you find online.

ODESI: Ontario Data Documentation, Extraction Service and Infrastructure Initiative This link opens in a new window
- Odesi provides open and enhanced access to a variety of data collections such as Statistics Canada’s Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) public use microdata, historical datasets, and Canadian public opinion polls, including the Gallup Canada, IPSOS Canada, and the Canadian Opinion Research Archive (CORA).
- Also includes Borealis (the Canadian Dataverse Repository).
- Permitted Uses
Help Guide
Statista This link opens in a new window
- Contains more than 1 million statistics on over 80,000 topics.
- Contains Statista dossiers and industry reports for 170 industries and 150 countries.
- Includes market forecasts, as well as market, industry and country outlooks and insights.