Big Data in Politics

Although Big Data has existed for quite some time now, I still believe many industries are missing out on the benefits of appropriately storing, and analyzing this data. Both the private sector and governments can benefit from examining their large data sets in order to expand into other markets, make more accurate decisions, and to formulate better business models. For instance, most retailers would be able to further analyze what products are succeeding financially, what locations prefer certain merchandise, and what markets have shown the most growth all by studying their vast transaction histories. Additionally, Big Data can also improve a population’s well being if implemented in the medical industry, which already has a countless number of records to begin with. It would significantly help in making more accurate diagnoses, and it would even allow the ability to see if new diseases are on the rise, as well as being able to easier track down their sources. One area where the use of data analytics has been barely ever used is in politics. Probably the most sophisticated use of Big Data in politics was President Obama’s 2012 Presidential Election.

For the 2012 Presidential Election, President Obama decided to create a campaign that was largely data driven in hopes to create a better marketing strategy that would ultimately target citizens who they predicted to by highly persuadable. With the help of data scientist Rayid Ghani, Obama’s campaign relied on machine learning techniques  to pinpoint issues citizens wanted to see fixed, and locations containing large amounts of undecided voters. By doing this, the campaign staff was able to utilize its resources and time more efficiently by establishing their target audiences, creating related advertisements focusing on key issues, and holding events in locations with easily persuadable citizens. While working for the campaign, “Ghani helped build statistical models that assessed each voter along five axes; support for the president; susceptibility to being persuaded to support the president; willingness to donate money; willingness to volunteer; and likelihood of casting a vote. These models allowed the campaign to target door knocks, phone calls, TV spots, and online ads to where they were most likely to benefit Obama.” (Source) Although this now makes it seem as if the president was a marketable brand of some common product, the “Obama campaign folks dismiss the idea that they were using data to sell the president like soda pop by burrowing into our brains with targeted appeals. In campaign politics, they say the power of data is in making the most of resources whether ad dollars or volunteer enthusiasm.” (Source) In my own personal opinion, I still don’t see the difference between the goals of an election campaign and Coca-Cola trying to sell a new product, but what I’m glad Obama’s campaign staff noted is the immense power of data. The use of data analytics in this particular field only proves that in almost any circumstance, the use of Big Data can by the driving force for a company, or some interest group in achieving their goals. Now that the world is continuing to invent better ways to store, and analyze large data sets, I think it would only be natural to see Big Data eventually find its way into our everyday lives.

Although I’m glad an election campaign decided to take a more modern approach to achieving a victory, I’m still uncertain how I feel about these methods being implemented in politics. I’m not criticizing the technology or implementation of these methods, but there are some aspects of a political figure using these methods that still bother me. On one hand, I’m glad that president Obama’s staff used data mining techniques to allow public opinion mold their campaign strategy. It shows us that they do care about the public opinion, and they are focused on solving the problems people want to see fixed. On the other hand, what if this all comes back to the stereotype that a politician will only tell you what you want to hear? Perhaps I would prefer it more if before being elected, the president would lay it to me straight, but as I think more about it, I believe this type of method is becoming outdated. Public interest, and society in general is changing constantly, and I think it would be illogical to not adapt to it if given the right data sets. By using different machine learning techniques, politicians would be able to define more clearly what issues need addressing, which might go unnoticed to the naked eye.  Without a doubt, it’s no easy task to map and predict an entire country’s interests an ideologies, but I still believe the truth lies in the data, and I believe for this situation, as well as many others, Big Data can truly offer a method to the madness.