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About the AmericasBarometer

The AmericasBarometer is one of the world's most comprehensive sources of data on democratic governance and public opinion — two decades of evidence, data from dozens of countries, and hundreds of thousands of voices. Since 2004, LAPOP Lab has used the survey to help researchers, policymakers, and civil society understand how citizens experience democracy and to translate that understanding into evidence that strengthens democratic institutions worldwide.

  • Why It Matters

    Democracy across the Americas is under real pressure — from declining trust in institutions to rising tolerance for centralized power. The AmericasBarometer gives policymakers, researchers, and civil society the evidence they need to understand these dynamics and respond with informed, effective solutions, rather than guesswork.

  • How It Works

    Every survey round, we interview tens of thousands of people across the Americas using probability-based national samples and a rigorously tested core questionnaire — the same trusted methodology we've used since 2004. Local survey firms in each country are trained and monitored using our proprietary quality-control system, FALCON©, so the data we publish is accurate and comparable across countries and over time. See Methods and Practices and Quality Control below for the full picture.

  • Impact and Use

    AmericasBarometer data informs decisions well beyond CGD. It has shaped a presidential commission on political reform in Peru, national police reform in Guyana, election-year debate in Ecuador, and countless works of academic and independent research — put to use by governments, multilateral institutions, and civil society organizations across the region. See our Policy Impact page for more.

2026 Pulse of Democracy

2026 Pulse of Democracy

Drawing on the latest AmericasBarometer survey, the 2026 Pulse of Democracy examines how people across the Americas view democracy, governance, migration, security, and other pressing issues shaping the region.

Read the Full 2026 Report

AmericasBarometer Data

CGD believes evidence should be open to everyone working to strengthen democracy. That's why we provide free, unrestricted access to AmericasBarometer data for researchers, policymakers, journalists, and students worldwide — no cost, no barriers, just two simple commitments:

  • Protecting the privacy of survey respondents
  • Not sharing the data with third parties

  • Who Uses the Data?

    Our datasets are trusted by researchers and institutions shaping policy worldwide, including:

    • Academic researchers around the world
    • The World Bank
    • The Inter-American Development Bank
    • The United Nations Development Program
    • The Organization of American States
    • Governments across Latin America and the Caribbean
  • How to Access the Data
    • Download the Data — free, publicly available data files, ready to explore (live at launch)
    • Explore the Data Playground — visualize public opinion in just a few clicks, no coding required
    • Use the lapop R Package — our official CRAN package (install.packages("lapop")) for design-effects-aware analysis and publication-ready visualizations
    • Become a Subscriber — individuals and institutions can unlock premium data services
  • How to Cite AmericasBarometer Data

    Citation styles vary by publication outlet, but every citation of AmericasBarometer data should include:

    • Author: LAPOP Lab
    • Title: AmericasBarometer [Country]
    • Year: Year(s) of data collection (not publication year)
    • Version: X (found in the dataset file name)
    • DOI: (if available)
    • Publisher: Center for Global Democracy, Nashville, TN
    • URL: vanderbilt.edu/cgd

    We also recommend noting the dataset version and access method in any tables, graphs, or methodological appendices — especially when using merged or multi-year datasets.

  • Replication Requests

    To protect the integrity of our data-sharing agreements, authors should not share AmericasBarometer data files directly (including with journals) — instead, link to the CGD website and include the syntax or code needed to replicate your analysis.

  • Share Your Work

    Published something using AmericasBarometer data? We'd love to know. Send your publication reference to centerforglobaldemocracy@vanderbilt.edu — your work helps us show the real-world impact of this research.

Explore by Country and Year

Every country tells its own story, and the AmericasBarometer has been telling it since 2004. Browse country-specific reports and datasets from any of the 11 survey rounds — 35 countries and more than 433,000 interviews and counting.

Pre-2004 Data Archive

Long before the AmericasBarometer began, LAPOP Lab founder Dr. Mitchell A. Seligson was already asking these questions. The Seligson Political Culture Survey Archive preserves 82 surveys from 17 countries dating back to 1975 — free to download and explore.

Methods and Practices

Good data starts with good design. Every AmericasBarometer survey moves through a rigorous three-stage process — from question design to fieldwork to final analysis — to ensure the data we publish is accurate, comparable, and trustworthy.

  • Pre-Survey
    • We gather input from a wide network of academics, practitioners, and policymakers
    • We test new survey items using Vanderbilt University's experimental research lab
    • We conduct extensive in-country pre-testing of every survey item
    • We translate surveys into multiple languages spoken across the Americas
    • We design national probability samples using rigorous statistical methods
    • Every survey is approved by Vanderbilt University's Institutional Review Board to protect human subjects
  • Implementation
    • We rigorously train every interviewer using detailed training manuals
    • We partner with reputable, established survey organizations across the region
    • We use electronic handheld devices and specialized software to enable multilingual interviews and built-in validity checks
  • Post-Survey
    • We use cutting-edge statistical methods to audit, process, and analyze the data
    • We translate findings into clear, user-friendly graphs and reports
    • We share results publicly in every country we survey
    • We publish the data on our website and in the free, interactive Data Playground

Quality Control

Reliable evidence starts with rigorous quality control. LAPOP Lab applies quality checks at every stage of the AmericasBarometer, from questionnaire design to real-time monitoring in the field, so the data we publish can be trusted.

  • Comprehensible Surveys

    Every questionnaire is pre-tested using cognitive interviews and carefully adapted — linguistically and culturally — for each country, so questions are clear and accessible to every respondent, regardless of their educational background.

  • Digital Data Collection

    Since 2016, nearly all AmericasBarometer interviews in Latin America and the Caribbean have been conducted on connected Android devices (Canada and the U.S. use web-based surveys). This digital-first approach reduces data-entry errors, enables real-time monitoring, and makes it easy to switch between languages mid-interview.

  • Real-Time Monitoring with FALCON©

    Our proprietary FALCON© system — the Fieldwork Algorithm for LAPOP Lab Control over survey Operations and Norms — gives our team real-time visibility into fieldwork as it happens, so issues like improper locations or weak interview technique can be caught and corrected before they affect the data.

    Key Quality Control Innovations

    • Geo-Fence Module — confirms interviews happen in the right place using GPS-enabled geo-fencing, alerting interviewers and supervisors in real time if an interview strays outside the designated area
    • Distance Audit Module (DAM) — automatically flags any interview conducted too far from its assigned location
    • Location Consistency Check (LCC) — confirms an interviewer's location before their day begins, preventing mix-ups between similarly named or nearby areas
    • Multi-Tiered Auditing — every interview is reviewed via audio recording (with respondent consent), errors are logged through our internal QuAC system, and a second team reviews a random sample of audits to double-check quality

Ethics Statement

Trust is at the heart of everything we do. LAPOP Lab adheres to the American Political Science Association (APSA)'s Principles and Guidance for Human Subjects Research, and to the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)'s Code of Ethics. All AmericasBarometer surveys are reviewed and authorized by Vanderbilt University's Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Every AmericasBarometer respondent is informed about the study before consenting to participate. Consistent with norms for scientific survey research in the region, participants are not paid for their time.

AmericasBarometer surveys are probabilistic and nationally representative, giving every voting-age resident a chance to be included. Survey data are made available to the research community to advance scientific knowledge on public opinion, political behavior, and democracy, and are never intended to benefit or harm any particular group. All data are de-identified, and our data user agreement specifically prohibits using it to investigate specific individuals or organizations.

About LAPOP Lab

At the heart of CGD's research is LAPOP Lab — our team of survey scientists and the driving force behind the AmericasBarometer. Founded in 2004 by Dr. Mitchell A. Seligson as the Latin American Public Opinion Project, LAPOP Lab has grown into a world leader in international survey research, with data and findings regularly cited by global media, governments, and researchers across the Americas.