Data science is now being used to aid in political campaigning, and activities surrounding campaigns. We are all aware of this after Obama’s 2008 campaign. This campaign season, even the TV networks are being analyzed to give Republican campaigners insight. You can see what they found below, or read the entire article:
Overview of Most/Least Balanced Coverage of Republican Candidates:
- Most Balanced= FOX
- Most Imbalanced= MSNBC, CNN
- Only Network to Not Favor Trump= Al Jazeera America
Introduction
Since 2008, data campaigning has been a new, brilliant focus for politicians and campaigners. Obama’s use of data campaigning likely helped steer him into the White House, and today the data revolution is continuing to transform political campaigning.
Origins of “Smart” Campaigning
President Obama began using data analytics in his first campaign in 2008. It allowed his campaigners to treat voters as individuals, rather than a member of a demographic group. According to the MIT Technology Review, it also allowed for increased participation in the political process.
It’s About People, Not Generalized Demographics
Teams of data scientists and analysts were able to aggregate projections about the opinions and behaviors of individual voters. Traditionally, campaigns identify a geographic location, and/or demographic (such as gender or age), and use that information to target their campaigns. However, with the new use of data technology, they no longer have to resort to identifying marketer’s identifications of people. Instead, they can gather information about people at an individual level.
Bolstering Political Participation
Furthermore, the use of data in campaigning had boosted political participation (and continues to do so). Voters can more easily access information, and are also more inclined to do so. They are also encouraged to talk about politics and can share their opinions more easily, through the use of websites, apps and social media. Obama’s team also created an app that “gamified” volunteer activity, making volunteering more attractive.
But the use of data campaigning does not stop there.
Broadening the Use of Data This Campaign Season, 2015
It seems like other politicians have learned from the success in Obama’s 2008 and 2012 data-driven campaigns. This election period, we are already seeing a wider variety of uses for data.
My favorite use of data technology this campaign season is showing us what TV Networks are broadcasting. Even in this data era, it is still important to monitor Television activity, as it is still the primary source of political news for Americans.
Measuring Soundbites
After the August 6th Republican debate, the Internet Archive’s Television News Archive began measuring soundbites. They used audio fingerprinting technology to make this possible. They scanned all major U.S. and International networks to identify each time a soundbite from the August 6th debate was broadcast on another TV show.
Who’s Biased?
According to the Internet Archive’s Television News Archive, FOX News provided the most balanced coverage of the Republican Candidates. However, it may not surprise you that each of the major television networks (with the exception of one), favored Trump. This includes: Bloomberg, FOX Business, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Univision, and Telemundo. The only network to not favor Trump was Al Jazeera America, which only slightly favored Rand Paul.
Still Increased Political Participation
As previously discussed, Obama used data to help increase participation in the political arena. This appears to be continuing. This year in the Republican Debate, the moderators encouraged home viewers to share their opinions throughout the debate. Of the roughly 103 minute debate, roughly 25 minutes contained audience participation, whether they were cheers or boos.
The Forbes article where I learned about this summed it up perfectly…”Today’s political campaigning has become synonymous with the ‘big data’ revolution.” It seems as though nearly everything we do, everything we watch, and everything we work on is becoming synonymous with the Big Data Revolution.
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