Political ads on the airwaves have been so pervasive this year that voters in battleground states probably see them in their sleep. But when a political spot pops up while surfing the Web, there’s a good chance it’s aimed right at you. The practice is called microtargeting and like a […] Read more »
Tracking Online Clicks to Try to Sway Voters
… One of the hallmarks of this campaign is the use of increasingly sophisticated — but not always accurate — data-mining techniques to customize ads for voters based on the digital trails they leave as they visit Internet sites. It is a practice pioneered by online retailers who work with […] Read more »
Election May Hinge on Get-Out-the-Vote Efforts
… In its final stretch, the presidential race is coming down to only a few states—and a handful of key dynamics. Romney is running largely the same campaign everywhere, with a message centered on arguments both ideological (government is too big and expensive) and pragmatic (the results of Obama’s past […] Read more »
Obama’s Edge: The Ground Game That Could Put Him Over the Top
… Four years ago, Barack Obama built the largest grassroots organization in the history of American politics. After the election, he never stopped building, and the current operation, six years in the making, makes 2008 look like “amateur ball,” in the words of Obama’s national field director Jeremy Bird. Republicans […] Read more »
How Companies Have Assembled Political Profiles for Millions of Internet Users
If you’re a registered voter and surf the web, one of sites you visit has almost certainly placed a tiny piece of data on your computer flagging your political preferences. That piece of data, called a cookie, marks you as a Democrat or Republican, when you last voted, and what […] Read more »
Study Finds Broad Wariness Over Online Tracking
As marketers, browser makers and government regulators spar over efforts to let consumers limit custom advertising online, a new study suggests that Americans are largely unaware of what that means and have a strong aversion to being tracked online. The majority of Americans surveyed by researchers at the Berkeley Center […] Read more »