The 2016 campaign is the most data-rich election in history. Voters, like consumers, are bombarded with target-marketed messages engineered to endear sentiment, provoke evangelism, and compel action.
Personal information gathered from social media sites, retail data, census data and other public records, voter history, and private sets is curated by data analysis firms. The uber-data sets are exported to CRM-like management tools that segment data and help campaigns craft advertising messages and communicate directly with voters using social media, phone calls, text messages, and email.
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L2 Political is a big data management tool that both aggregates and refines voter data for political clients on both sides of the aisle. Using the Bing API and HaystaqDNA, L2 overlays detailed voter and consumer records over maps of the United States. Campaigns and enterprise clients can filter by a long list of demographic and psychographic information, including voter address and phone number, voting history, party affiliation, lifestyle and work style estimates, digital advertising segment, income estimates, contributions, and other details.
This information allows campaigns to create very refined marketing campaigns. The L2 platform enables campaign workers to zoom in on a map and see specific houses and neighborhoods. The refined data chunks help canvassers knock on individual doors using a finely tuned script, phone bank callers can now call and chat with individuals, and volunteers can SMS personally with voters. The tool also spits out XML and CSV files that campaigns use with advertising CMRs to purchase ads online and automate social media channels.
The result is an electorate saturated with campaign- and election-related marketing. L2 provided TechRepublic with data about the most important battleground and swing states. Because get-out-the-vote is essential for both campaigns, the data emphasizes new voter registrants.
Campaigns also use big data as an issues barometer of voter sentiment. L2 also provided data on marijuana legalization, a hot issue on the ballot in several important states.
Use the gallery above to swipe through local maps and L2 data on the most high-stakes states in the 2016 election.
New Registrants Nationwide – November 4, 2015, through October 2016
Voter Political Party Affiliation
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New Registrants
New Registrants
New Registrants
Key: Warmer colors indicate greater likelihood of marijuana legalization support.
Key: Warmer colors indicate greater likelihood of marijuana legalization support.
Key: Warmer colors indicate greater likelihood of marijuana legalization support.
Dan is a writer, reporter, and producer. He is currently a reporter for at CBS News and was previously a Senior Writer for TechRepublic.
