pvsR: Interact with the Project Vote Smart API for Scientific Research

Description Usage Arguments Value Author(s) References Examples

This function is a wrapper for the Npat.getNpat() method of the PVS API Npat class which returns the candidate's most recently filled out NPAT/PCT. The function sends a request with this method to the PVS API for all candidate IDs given as a function input, extracts the XML values from the returned XML file(s) and returns them arranged in one data frame.

1	Npat.getNpat(candidateId)

candidateId

a character string or list of character strings with the candidate ID(s) (see references for details)

A data frame with a row for each candidate and columns with the following variables describing the candidate:
bio.candidate.crpId (OpenSecrets ID),
bio.candidate.firstName,
bio.candidate.nickName,
bio.candidate.middleName,
bio.candidate.lastName,
bio.candidate.suffix,
bio.candidate.birthDate,
bio.candidate.birthPlace,
bio.candidate.pronunciation,
bio.candidate.gender,
bio.candidate.family,
bio.candidate.photo,
bio.candidate.homeCity,
bio.candidate.homeState,
bio.candidate.education,
bio.candidate.profession,
bio.candidate.political,
bio.candidate.religion,
bio.candidate.congMembership,
bio.candidate.orgMembership,
bio.candidate.specialMsg,
bio.office.parties,
bio.office.title,
bio.office.shortTitle,
bio.office.name,
bio.office.type,
bio.office.status,
bio.office.firstElect,
bio.office.lastElect,
bio.office.nextElect,
bio.office.termStart,
bio.office.termEnd,
bio.office.district,
bio.office.districtId,
bio.office.stateId,
bio.office.committee*.committeeId,
bio.office.committee*.committeeName,
bio.election*.office,
bio.election*.officeId,
bio.election*.officeType,
bio.election*.parties,
bio.election*.district,
bio.election*.districtId,
bio.election*.status,
bio.election*.ballotName.

Ulrich Matter <ulrich.matter-at-unibas.ch>

http://api.votesmart.org/docs/CandidateBio.html
Use Candidates.getByOfficeState(), Candidates.getByOfficeTypeState(), Candidates.getByLastname(), Candidates.getByLevenshtein(), Candidates.getByElection(), Candidates.getByDistrict() or Candidates.getByZip() to get a list of candidate IDs.
See also: Matter U, Stutzer A (2015) pvsR: An Open Source Interface to Big Data on the American Political Sphere. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0130501. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130501

# First, make sure your personal PVS API key is saved as an option
# (options("pvs.key" = "yourkey")) or in the pvs.key variable:
## Not run: pvs.key <- "yourkey"
# get political courage tests of Barack Obama and John Sidney McCain III
## Not run: pcts <- Npat.getNpat(list(9490,53270))
## Not run: head(pcts$survey)
## Not run: head(pcts$candidate)