Targeting Voters in Congressional Elections

Targeting Voters in Congressional Elections

Contemporary News Analyses

Ambinder, Marc. “Exclusive: How Democrats Won the Data War in 2008.” The Atlantic, October 5, 2009. Available at:

Ambinder discusses the results of the Analyst Institute’s analysis of “progressive voter contact methods” used by Catalist, a for-profit company hired by the Democratic Party, to attract new Democratic voters. The findings suggest that registered voters who were contacted by Catalist member groups had a turnout rate of nearly 75%. Moreover, the Democratic data mining and targeting techniques helped to elect Barack Obama president in 2008, as the votes cast by new liberal voters exceeded his margin of victory in Ohio, Florida, Indiana and North Carolina.

Catanese, David. “Jewish Voters Targeted in NY-26.” Politico, May 19, 2011. Available at:

Catanese highlights the efforts of the National Jewish Democratic Councilto target 10,000 “mostly Democratic Jewish voters” in New York’s 26th Congressional District through scripted phone messages. The messages accuse the GOP of threatening to “gut Medicare,” and warn that the cuts would adversely affect Jewish seniors.

Curry, Tom. “Micro-targeting Voters May Be Key to Election.” MSNBC. October 8, 2006. Available at:

Curry explains howDemocrats and Republicans target voters in their efforts to increase turnout in midterm elections. Using “micro-targeting” (i.e. personal affiliations, such as owning a snowmobile, university alumni, consumer data, Census data on income, education levels or other factors), the parties “get out the vote” by persuading these niche groups whom to favor in the election.

Friedman, Dan. “McConnell Hopes Cash Scares off 2014 Rivals.” National Journal, March 14, 2012. Available at:

Friedman reports on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY, 1985-present; Senate Minority Leader 2007-present) and his efforts to raise enough money for his 2014 re-election bid to scare off potential challengers from his own party and from Democrats. As Republicans and Democrats tend to target the leadership of the other party for electoral defeat, Senator McConnell recognizes the need for “a Senate campaign with unprecedented size, sophistication, voter-targeting ability and…money.” Senator McConnell aims to surpass the $25 million raised by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV, 1987-present; Senate Majority Leader 2007-present) for his hotly contested re-election campaign in 2010.

Kugler, Sara. “NYC Mayor Takes Voter Targeting to the Extreme.” The Seattle Times, October 26, 2009. Available at:

The Mayor Michael Bloomberg re-election campaign collected comprehensive information about voters and used that information to build profiles to micro-target their message. Voters received pre-recorded "robocalls" targeted to appeal to their tastes or ethnicity and urging them to get out and vote. This campaign represents one of the most inclusive micro-targeting efforts to date.

Slinkerwink. “GOP Looks to Bridge Digital Divide Against Dems.” Daily Kos, March 29, 2012. Available at:

The author discusses the digital edge that Democrats currently have over Republicans when targeting voters, and accuses Republicans of using “restrictive voter ID laws” in swing states (Wisconsin and Pennsylvania) to disenfranchise voters. One reason given for this digital advantage is that Democrats have outsourced voter file assembly to private companies that have expanded Democratic voter lists by using information gathered from independent groups. In an effort to maintain the digital edge in targeting potential new voters, the author encourages Democrats to increase their use of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Moreover, retargeting ads are explained and encouraged as a viable advertising strategy for Democrats in the 2012 election.

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