The advent of computer modeling has made voter targeting automated and more efficient.
In the 1960s, a market researcher in Los Angeles, Vincent Barabbashas developed a computer program that helps determine the areas targeted by political campaigns. The system superimposed details of an individual’s voting history on a precinct map, along with U.S. Census data on household budget, ethnicity, and family composition.
In 1966, political consultants used the system in Ronald Reagan’s California gubernatorial campaign to identify neighborhoods with potential swing voters, including middle-aged, white, and male union members, and target them with ads. helped to make
Critics were concerned that the technology could affect voters, deriding it as “an ominous new development dreamed up by manipulative social scientists.”sell ronald reagana book about the political transformation of Hollywood actors.
By the early 2000s, campaigns had moved to more sophisticated targeting methods.
In President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004, Republican consultants categorized American voters into discrete buckets such as “flag and family Republicans” and “religious Democrats.” This segmentation was then used to target Republicans and swing voters who live in towns that typically vote Democrat, said Michael Myers, president of his consulting firm Target Point, who worked with the Bush campaign.
Personalized voter scores were used extensively in the 2008 Obama presidential campaign. Republicans quickly ramped up their own voter profiling and targeting operations.
Ten years later, when Cambridge Analytica (a voter profiling company that secretly datamined and scored millions of Facebook users) made front page news, many national political campaigns were already using voter scores. was Now we also use local candidates.
This spring, the Government Accountability Office issued a report warning that consumer scoring practices are not transparent and can be harmful.nevertheless report It did not specifically look at voter scores, but urged Congress to consider enacting consumer protections regarding scores.