The Council of State Governments (CSG) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that provides quality research support "to help state officials shape public policy."
Its research areas include governmental operations, state and federal legislation and regulations, and policies issues at the state and national levels. Of most use is the Knowledge Center section, especially the subsections titled Policy Area, which contains reports on numerous topics (e.g., education, elections, public safety), and Data Center, which links to polling numbers, an unemployment tracker, and a database where one can compare how states perform in certain categories.