Because presidential elections can come
down to a handful of votes in a single state, every data cell seems filled with promise. For instance, since Democrats are 48% more likely to use coffee houses like Starbucks, coffee shops are a good
place to sign up Obama voters, says Sarah Welch, co-founder and COO at Mindset Media.
This type of "microtargeting" research came into vogue in the 2000 and 2004 election cycles to enable candidates to tailor their messages for smaller and more specific audiences. But experts are less impressed with the usefulness of such data this year. Says Thomas Gensemer, a managing partner at Blue State Digital: "What really matters is, did you vote in the last four election cycles and how did you vote?"
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