Trump's disdain for data & analytics

Quote: Washington Post

Data helps campaigns be more efficient and effective. Data helps campaigns figure out which voters to contact, what to say, and how best to reach them. Data helps campaigns more efficiently buy television and digital advertising to reach targeted groups of voters. Data underlies message testing and the experiments that help campaigns figure out who is persuadable and what messages will persuade them. Data underlies the email and web design testing that can result in millions of additional dollars and volunteers... [But] the infrastructure required to gather, manage, integrate and update data is costly and technology-intensive and demands considerable expertise.

Quote: The Hill

Donald Trump’s apparent uninterest in using data and analytics in his campaign is putting pressure on the Republican National Committee (RNC), which could be forced to fill the gaps in the general election... In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Trump called data “overrated” and said he plans to rely mostly on rallies and media interviews to propel his campaign.

Quote: NBC News

Hillary Clinton has been building her data operation since she launched her campaign, but Trump has largely dismissed its importance.

Quote: reno

Does it matter? Will it cost Trump the election?

Quote: AZDuffman

Romney and McCain invested millions in data gathering. Got them nowhere. Trump is using his understanding of human nature and how people operate and so far it has worked well. Hillary will look at all the data and sound programmed.

Data does not win elections. Personality wins them.

Quote: ams288

His personality, racism, crudeness, misogyny, lack of knowledge on the issues, lack of any real policy positions, etc., will cost him the election.

Quote: ams288

His personality, racism, crudeness, misogyny, lack of knowledge on the issues, lack of any real policy positions, etc., will cost him the election.

Quote: Nareed

I, for one, look forward to the day after the election, when the Trumpkins will explain how exactly they really won.

Quote: Wizard

Anyone interested in betting that if Trump loses he initially, at least, contests the results? Perhaps it could be judged by whether he makes a concession speech within 24 hours of CNN declaring Clinton the winner?

Quote: Wizard

Anyone interested in betting that if Trump loses he initially, at least, contests the results? Perhaps it could be judged by whether he makes a concession speech within 24 hours of CNN declaring Clinton the winner?

Quote: AZDuffman

Data does not win elections. Personality wins them.

Quote: National Review

[Obama's] analytics team had polling data from about 29,000 people in Ohio alone — a whopping sample that composed nearly half of 1% of all voters there — allowing for deep dives into exactly where each demographic and regional group was trending at any given moment. This was a huge advantage: when polls started to slip after the first debate, they could check to see which voters were changing sides and which were not. “We were much calmer than others,” said one of the officials. The polling and voter-contact data were processed and reprocessed nightly to account for every imaginable scenario. “We ran the election 66,000 times every night,” said a senior Obama official, describing the computer simulations the campaign ran to figure out Obama’s odds of winning each swing state. “And every morning we got the spit-out — here are your chances of winning these states. And that is how we allocated resources.”

This isn’t to say a data-driven turnout operation is a magic bullet; it’s a tool. In a close race, it could be decisive, but most years it is just going to be one of many factors. But why would Donald Trump, or any other candidate not want to have this tool?