Ranking Data in Political Science

Across scientific disciplines, researchers use ranking data to study people's comparative judgments, preferences, and decision-making over a range of items, from medical treatments to political values. Yet existing data repositories have largely overlooked the rich and diverse ranking data collected and analyzed in social science research. In this work, we introduce a database of standardized rankings based on various studies from leading political science journals. Our first release covers 52 datasets from 27 original studies published between 2005 and 2025. Our database demonstrates notable variation in substantive topics and forms of ranking data that go well beyond canonical examples of candidate evaluations and value orientations, enabling researchers to perform comparative analyses, replication, reanalysis, methodological evaluation, and new substantive research with real-world political rankings. Along with validating our database, we illustrate it by replicating key findings in four selected studies, including those of multiple identities in American politics, the representation of Muslims in India, factional leaning in the Syrian civil war, and legislative accountability for affordable health care.