What Is Voter Targeting?
Voter targeting is the name for the process political campaigns use to identify the segments of a voting population they intend to engage for identification, persuasion, and/or mobilization.
Goals for outreach to different targeted voter segments drive strategy and tactics in all areas of a campaign, including messaging and direct voter contact efforts. Microtargeting is a cutting edge political campaign technique that continues to develop at a rapid pace. Being familiar with microtargeting and understanding how it works is vital for anyone considering a career in politics.
How Does Voter Targeting Work?
Voter targeting is built on databases of voter profiles. These profiles vary in complexity and size but are based on data points including: 1. Past voting history 2. Known party affiliation/political leanings 3. Demographic details
Where Did Microtargeting Originate?
Microtargeting as a political tool was developed in the early 2000s. Republican political campaigns were the first to use political microtargeting on a national level during the United States Presidential election of 2004. The technique itself was developed from an existing marketing strategy and business model used by direct marketers.Political parties have always tried to tailor their political advertising to potential voters based on their specific demographics and political leanings. For instance, voters in Pennsylvania might hear a radio ad tailored to union steelworkers, while voters in California might see a television ad emphasizing immigration reform.With the rise of big data in the early to mid-2000s, election campaigns were able to tailor their message in a much more precise way for much smaller segments of individual voters. The Republican and Democratic National Committees hired data scientists to build databases filled with all available information on voters stored in individual voter files. These databases were then mined to develop hyper-specific voter profiles and devise messaging that could reach individual voters through door-to-door campaign visits, phone calls, or traditional advertising.















