Data

Five Big Digital Politics Trends to Watch in 2024
ePolitics
"As far back as 2012, the Obama campaign could only find phone numbers for about half of the voters aged 18-30 on its target list, and many had moved so often that their physical addresses were dead as well. No matter how good your data model is, it won’t help if you can’t actually reach the people you need."

Cellphone data, mobile apps and paid media: DNC touts voter-targeting plans
NBC News
"The party has invested $2 million this cycle in cellphone data to better target voters in battleground states, according to the memo, which touted expanding its cellphone coverage on voter lists from 30% of voters in 2016 to over 80% now. An additional $2 million annually has been invested in 'models and commercial data to better understand voters.'"

Design

Do campaign logos matter? This survey says yes.
Yello
"Meanwhile, two of the logos that didn’t use red, white, and blue were the lowest rated. The blue and pink “Laura Banks Jones” logo that used an AOC slant was seen by respondents as “extreme,” which suggests how significantly the slant design and out-of-the-box colors read far left, while the blue and orange shield logo for “Ben King” was called “moderate” and “fresh” but people just didn’t seem to like it."

Fundraising

Four Priorities for Q2 and Beyond: Grassroots Fundraising
Mission Wired
"What’s notable here is that we’re seeing more revenue raised in SMS in Q1 than we saw in Q1 of 2022, which means grassroots supporter engagement over SMS channels is becoming increasingly critical in actually reaching your supporters with your message – and, importantly, motivating them to take the action you need. One competitive Senate race saw SMS fundraising drive 30% of their Q1 digital revenue, compared to 24% from email. And a nationwide political committee saw 41% of their Q1 digital revenue come from SMS channels, compared to 23% from email."

International

How Modi and the BJP turned WhatsApp into an election-winning machine
Rest of World
"Over the past decade, the BJP has grown a vast network of WhatsApp groups that attempts to influence voters by spreading campaign messaging and propaganda. According to a report in the Deccan Herald, there are now at least 5 million WhatsApp groups operated by the BJP in India. Unnamed party leaders told the Herald the BJP’s WhatsApp infrastructure is so powerful that it can disseminate information from Delhi to any location in the country within 12 minutes."

Security

How Many Campaign Vendors Have Been Hit With Cyber Attacks? It’s Likely More Than You Think
Campaigns & Elections
"But those high-profile cases may just be the tip of the iceberg. The reality is that many more firms in the industry may have suffered breaches without disclosing them publicly, according to one cybersecurity expert."

Social Media

People who got off Facebook for 6 pivotal weeks in 2020 may have been less likely to vote for Trump
Nieman Lab
"The estimates imply that being off of Facebook reduced the share of voters choosing Trump by about 1 percentage point. That’s what would happen if 1 percent of voters switched from Trump to Biden, or 2-3 percent of Trump voters decided not to vote."

House members warned not to block online critics
Axios
"The new guidance comes in response to a pair of recent Supreme Court rulings that laid out circumstances in which it is unconstitutional for public officials to block their social media detractors."