Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP)

Since the 1970s, Prof. Mitchell Seligson, his colleagues and students have systematically surveyed the citizens of Latin America on their political views' specifically on democratic values and their behaviors related to democracy. These surveys and the studies that have emerged from them have sought to determine the extent to which women may be excluded from political participation, the effect of education on tolerance for the rights of minorities, and the effects of government corruption on citizens.

 

The project has regularly published in-depth analyses of the data collected in Spanish-language monographs in countries throughout Latin America. These are all available for free downloading on the LAPOP web site.

 

Through years of polling in most of the countries of Latin America, Seligson and the LAPOP have developed a treasure-trove of databases of public opinion information about political viewpoints across Latin America.

 

This data has been the basis of scores of articles in professional journals, and has been the basis of many of the 25 Ph.D. dissertations that Seligson has supervised over the years; it has also been utilized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in its efforts to promote Latin American democracy and, perhaps most significantly, by the governments of several Latin American countries. The data produced has been utilized as well by the World Bank in its Governance measures.