As chief scientist at the Fung Institute, Jasjeet Sekhon devotes his research to studying the effectiveness of personalized medicine and digital advertising. With the looming presidential election, his research also has new interesting subject matter: How powerful is the data that drives presidential elections?
In short, very powerful. Data usage in election campaigns is becoming easier and cheaper to use. The accessibility of data means that candidates can now target voters with precision. This precision is extremely important to candidates running in close elections, who cannot afford to look over any voters. In close elections, strong analyst teams working with election data are crucial to win over battleground states.
Data has already had a defining role in previous elections, and its impact will only grow stronger. Read Sekhon’s full article to learn about the implications that data collection has on current elections, and his predictions for the future of data and voting.