Donald Trump’s aides and the Republican National Committee are beginning to craft voter models in key general election states, signaling a new attention to campaign analytics from the presumptive GOP nominee.
Even as the candidate downplays the investment he’ll make in such efforts, it is a signal that his campaign and the GOP are ready to add layers of traditional campaign structures to his insurgent bid for president.
The investment in voter modeling, described by a Trump source Tuesday, is a departure from his tactics during the primary campaign.
Trump’s campaign has not used polling or modeling so far in the Republican race, though they are common in modern political campaigns. President Barack Obama’s sophisticated voter database and analytics operation are partially credited with his highly successful 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Political operations use big data and voter records to identify potential supporters and target them with specialized appeals.
Trump himself told The Associated Press he is only planning on spending “limited” money on data models, though the RNC has spent heavily in such operations and the presumptive nominee would have full access to their resources.
Trump aides and the RNC are going into this assuming the Trump voter model looks a lot different than Republican candidates in recent history. Trump aides believe they can do well in Midwestern states like Minnesota and Wisconsin, but since they haven’t done tests before, they don’t know for sure.
The real estate mogul became the presumptive nominee following his win last week in the Indiana Republican primary, after which, Trump’s two remaining challengers dropped out of the race. The Trump campaign is now looking more toward November with outreach to unify the party as well as finding a vice presidential candidate.