Collecting data is only a small piece of the puzzle. If you don’t have solid pre-planning and the ability to go beyond the basics with processing and presenting the data free of bias and assumptions, then you will make unnecessary mistakes.
Or far worse, using data incorrectly leads to making campaign-tanking assumptions:
A large, national polling company performed a poll and stated unequivocally that our newcomer candidate was a lost cause (supposedly down -26 against a very powerful incumbent). With a quick look at the very same data from a more modern perspective, we judged our candidate to be in the range of -1 to +4 with strong momentum . . . they data strongly suggested they just needed to get their message out further. The party, perhaps understandably so, listened to the traditional pollster and did not fully invest in our candidate. Election day results?: Our candidate came in at -2.
Did our candidate magically close the gap by 24 points in 2 weeks against one of the most powerful politicians in the state? Or did the traditional pollster’s “thin-data” approach misguide the party? We’ll let you be the judge.
