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August 01, 2005
The Data Edge
Once again, Ruy Teixeira points us to an excellent article in analyzing current political strategy and tactics.
Data mining, a heavily used marketing tool these days, is being exploited by the GOP, to great advantage over Democrats. By analyzing consumer and other data, Republicans have been able to reliably identify sympathetic or potentially sympathetic voters, and then use aggressive persuasion tools -- mail, phone calls, etc. -- to win them over.
Democrats, not surprisingly, are way behind here. For years, party activists and consultants have continued to pursue programs aimed at turning out likely Democratic voters in concentrated, urban areas, with declining success.
It's now clear that the John Kerry actually raised more money than George W. Bush, and plenty of funding was there for outside groups. It's time to spend some of that money on building superior data for the future.
The Houston area offers a good case study in what no longer works. For many years here, Democratic voters were concentrated in urban wards, and "GOTV" programs concentrated there were the way to boost vote share.
But many of these traditional strongholds are now losing population, as younger generations move to Sugar Land, or Pearland. Democratic vote is being dispersed throughout the Metro area. Democrats need much more in-depth and sophisticated methods to identify friendly voters in all parts of the area, and get away from relying on past practices that just don't work anymore.
That, and, oh yeah, how about actually trying to persuade folks to vote for you? Hardly a novel idea, but one Democrats better get very serious about, and fast, if they are to fight their way out of the political wilderness.
Posted by houtopia at August 1, 2005 10:26 PM