Big Data has arrived in politics.

This year we were faced with the misuse of data and ‘cheating’ by some companies which may have altered the outcome of both the U.S. presidential election and the UK’s Brexit refenderum.

What does this imply? Are you protected? In the following post, we will try to answer some of your doubts as a voter.

How is this information useful to political parties?

In all good marketing strategies, it is necessary to find your audience first. In the political field something similar takes place. Thanks to Big Data, parties can get to know their potential audience a bit better. Here are some of the benefits of Big Data:

  • Predetermine the electoral behaviour of the audience.

  • Allow segmentation.

  • Extract the likes and interests of the audience, which leads to being able to carry out political programs that satisfy the needs of the potential voters.

  • It measures opinions about problems that matter, such as the socio-economic reality of the country, as well as the cultural tendencies of the population.

  • It allows the personalisation of electoral campaigns.

  • It provokes greater interaction between political parties and the voting population.

Cambridge Analytica

Cambridge Analytica is a data processing company that was founded in 2013. One of the main reasons that this organisation is well known is because of the controversy that was leaked last March. Cambridge Analytica used data from US Facebook users without their consent for political purposes. These data were resold and finally used in the last US election campaign. It also had a great influence on the campaign in favor of the departure of Great Britain from the European Union (Brexit).

In the following video you can learn what the Cambridge Analytica scandal was:

Can you win an election because of Big Data?

Thanks to Big Data, political parties can try to adapt their ideals to those of their voters. We have to remember that these data give a general idea of what the fears and questions of the potential voter are. Therefore, like any company, the parties sell their product to the public that best suits their needs.

Taking this into account, we believe that an electoral victory can be achieved because of this technology.

Big Data has become essential in any self-respecting political campaign and is an ideal way to get to know the electorate. The only question that remains is – when is it’s expiration date?