Early on in Donald Trump’s campaign, the real estate businessman was encouraged to invest in technology and data, but he decided he would focus more on star power and press coverage.
By the time Trump began investing in voter data and targeting analytics, he was months behind the powerful infrastructure Ted Cruz had built with Cambridge Analytica.
Trump’s campaign lacked the voter-targeting and turnout capabilities to translate a 7-point polling lead in Iowa into a win in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, and his disappointing second-place finish hinted at potential trouble for him in upcoming states that should otherwise be more favorable.
Meanwhile, it is CA’s data team working for the Cruz campaign that’s getting the credit for the Texas senators victory.
“Cambridge Analytica’s match rate was 70 percent of people who they said were leaning towards Cruz or were actually supporting Cruz… For all the talk over the last few years about the right being behind on voter ID and targeting."
"We’re experiencing a quantum leap forward right now.”
- Drew Ryun, Field Operations, super PAC