President Donald Trump is down by a significant margin to former Vice President Joe Biden with just three weeks to go in the 2020 campaign. One of his apparent answers to climb out of that hole is to continue to feature Dr. Anthony Fauci in an ad, which the director […] Read more »
The Strange Origin Story Of Data Science & Elections
Harvard historian and ‘New Yorker’ writer Jill Lepore tells the story of the Simulmatics Corporation. Founded in 1959, it used a so-called “people machine,” a computer program it claimed could predict the impact of political messages or advertising pitches. At the time, Simulmatics drew condemnation from scholars and political leaders […] Read more »
Will late Trump or Biden TV ads change the race?
If you are unlucky enough to live in one of the dozen or so states where the campaigns of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are duking it out on the airwaves, you’ve probably already had your fill of political ads. Hang on, there are less than […] Read more »
Farming Rises, Sports Tumbles in Industry Ratings
For the first time in Gallup’s 20 years of tracking Americans’ views of various business and industry sectors, farming and agriculture is the clear leader. The former top-ranking industries — restaurants and computers — remain in the top four, with the grocery industry rounding out the group. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical […] Read more »
Summer ad spending shows Trump in retreat, defense in key states
If you want to know what a campaign really thinks about its chances, you don’t listen to what it says, you watch where it puts its money. This week’s Data Download is looking at how the President Donald Trump and Joe Biden teams (and their main affiliated outside groups) have […] Read more »
Down In The Polls, Trump Pitches Fear: ‘They Want To Destroy Our Suburbs’
President Trump has a message for suburban voters. And it’s not a subtle one. “They want to destroy our suburbs,” Trump recently warned in a call with supporters. “People have worked all their lives to get into a community, and now they’re going to watch it go to hell,” he […] Read more »