The advent of computer modeling has made it possible to automate voter targeting, making it more efficient.
In the 1960s, a market researcher in Los Angeles, Vincent Barabba, developed a computer program to help political campaigns decide which neighborhoods to target. The system overlaid maps of electoral districts with details of individuals’ voting histories as well as US Census data on household economics, ethnic composition and family composition.
In 1966, political consultants used the system to help Ronald Reagan’s campaign for governor of California identify neighborhoods with potential voters, such as middle-aged white males, and target them with ads. .
Critics worried about the technology’s potential to sway voters, calling it a “sinister new development dreamed up by manipulative social scientists,” according to “Selling Ronald Reagan,” a book about the Hollywood actor’s political transformation. .
By the early 2000s, campaigns had shifted to more advanced targeting methods.
For President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, Republican consultants categorized American voters into separate categories, such as “Flag and Family Republicans” and “Religious Democrats.” Then they used segmentation to target Republicans and swing voters living in cities that typically voted Democrats, said Michael Meyers, president of TargetPoint Consulting, which worked on the Bush campaign.
In 2008, Obama’s presidential campaign made extensive use of individualized voter scores. Republicans quickly ramped up their own voter profiling and targeting operations.
A decade later, when Cambridge Analytica – a voter profiling company that secretly mined data and tagged millions of Facebook users – hit the headlines, many national political campaigns were already using voter scores. Now even local candidates are using them.
This spring, the Government Accountability Office released a report warning that the practice of rating consumers lacked transparency and could cause harm. While the report did not specifically examine voter scores, it urged Congress to consider enacting consumer protections around the scores.