Chapter 28 Quiz: The Modern Data-Driven Campaign

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is NOT typically included in a state voter file? - A) Party registration - B) Election participation history - C) How the voter voted in the last election - D) Date of birth

2. Catalist is best described as: - A) A Republican-aligned voter data vendor - B) A nonpartisan polling firm - C) A Democratic-aligned voter file aggregator and enrichment service - D) The DNC's internal data management system

3. VAN (VoterActionNetwork/VoteBuilder) is primarily used for: - A) Opposition research - B) Voter contact management and canvass data collection - C) Digital advertising targeting - D) FEC compliance reporting

4. A "universe segmentation" in campaign analytics refers to: - A) Geographic mapping of campaign territory - B) The classification of voters into groups based on support, turnout propensity, and persuadability - C) A method for selecting which polling firms to hire - D) The process of auditing a campaign's financial records

5. Which campaign is most associated with establishing the modern data-driven campaign model? - A) The 2004 Bush campaign's 72-Hour Program - B) The 2000 Gore campaign - C) The 2008 Obama campaign - D) The 2004 Kerry campaign

6. A turnout propensity score represents: - A) The probability that a voter supports a particular candidate - B) The probability that a voter can be persuaded to change their vote - C) The probability that a voter will cast a ballot in the current election - D) The probability that a voter will donate to the campaign

7. The primary difference between Catalist and i360 is: - A) Catalist covers more states - B) Catalist serves Democratic-aligned campaigns while i360 serves Republican-aligned campaigns - C) i360 focuses exclusively on digital advertising data - D) Catalist is a government agency; i360 is private

8. Which of the following best describes "data-informed decision-making" as distinct from merely collecting data? - A) Having the most data of any campaign in the race - B) Building sophisticated machine learning models - C) Routinely consulting quantitative evidence and updating strategy when evidence contradicts instincts - D) Hiring analysts with graduate degrees in statistics

9. Jake Rourke's "hybrid approach" is best characterized as: - A) Ignoring data entirely in favor of instinct - B) Using data outputs as a starting point, then modifying them based on local political knowledge - C) Outsourcing all data work to a commercial vendor - D) Using data only for digital advertising, not field operations

10. The 2016 Clinton campaign's data operation is most often cited as illustrating what lesson? - A) That sophisticated data operations guarantee electoral success - B) That small campaigns don't need data infrastructure - C) That data confidence can create institutional overconfidence that reinforces rather than challenges flawed assumptions - D) That Republican data operations are consistently superior

True/False

11. The voter file records how individual voters voted, not just whether they voted.

12. The 2012 Obama campaign's analytics operation ran A/B tests on campaign communications.

13. A high match rate between a campaign's consumer data and its voter file is always a sign of data quality.

14. Canvass data entered in VAN automatically feeds back into Catalist's national models.

15. The overfit model problem refers to a situation in which a model performs well on training data but fails to generalize to new elections.

Short Answer

16. Explain why a campaign with excellent data collection might still fail to be data-driven in its decision-making.

17. What is the "field data manager" role, and why is it considered critically important even though it is often unrecognized?

18. Describe one specific way in which the 2020 pandemic changed how campaigns used their data infrastructure.

19. Nadia Osei conducts a data audit when she first joins the Garza campaign. What is the purpose of such an audit, and what are two specific things she would be looking for?

20. Explain the distinction between a support score and a persuadability score, and describe how a campaign would use each differently.

Essay Questions

21. Compare and contrast the data philosophies of Nadia Osei and Jake Rourke. What are the genuine strengths of each approach? Under what electoral conditions would each approach be more likely to succeed?

22. The chapter argues that the data-driven campaign raises ethical concerns related to "who gets counted." Elaborate on this concern with specific reference to how universe segmentation and targeting decisions can have distributional consequences for democratic participation.