Internet Resources for American Politics and Public Opinion

Although many important governmental databases are still maintained by commercial vendors, there has been exponential growth over the past two years in the number of online resources made available to the general public. The rich availability of online resources for American politics is due largely to the lobbying efforts of public-interest organizations coupled with the Clinton Administration’s willingness to increase citizen access to government information. There were relatively few publicly-available political resources on the Internet until the end of 1992. But, the new Administration’s attitude toward online access caused a dramatic change of scenery; by the end of 1994 nearly every department and bureau of the federal government was making information available to the general public over the Internet.