Written by: Karen Suhaka | November 20, 2014

This post comes to us from the amazing folks at KnowWho. If you like our legislator pages then you already love KnowWho

 

The Value of Quality Campaign Data
Quality campaign data comes in several forms depending on your particular need, and KnowWho’s data covers those needs with accurate political ratings and comprehensive contact information for those following campaigns at the federal and state levels.The Political Value

2014 was touted as the year of the anti-incumbent movement. It was to be the election cycle where the electorate had finally had enough and were going to have their say at the polls. It was the endless babble heard from most every pundit and talking-head in the news media. And it all turned out to be remarkably wrong, except in our data, where we accurately predicted more than 97% of the U.S. Senate and House races.

Incumbents were not just successful in both Congressional and state legislature races, they were astoundingly victorious. Consider the following chart where more than 96% of incumbents won reelection in the U.S. House and both chambers of state legislatures holding elections this year. Also consider these incumbents did not squeak by tight wins, since the average percentage of votes received were 68% in the U.S. House, 77% in the state senates, and 77% in state houses or assemblies.

 

 

Save for the US Senate where 4 of 27 incumbents lost, the statistics are glaring and expose the anti-incumbency attitude as hollow, toothless, and nothing more than an idle threat.The polling was unequivocal when voters were asked about their attitudes toward incumbents. The vast majority of respondents, regardless of state, said it was time for a purging of career politicians. Well, not only did that not happen but there were several states where EVERY incumbent won, and another group of states that were just shy of a perfect record.

 


The states where incumbents “struggled” but still won handily, based on our statistics.


Just one state reelected fewer than 80% of its incumbents, and only five reelected fewer than 90% of those seeking another term in their state’s legislature. This hardly reflects the success of an anti-incumbent movement. In fact, it makes a rather stark statement about voter apathy and ignorance – both are alive and well.

 

 
If your goal in life is to be an incumbent who doesn’t have to work at getting reelected, then this last chart is one you’ll want to study closely. Forget the lack of any true anti-incumbency movement here are the top ten states with the highest percentage of incumbents who won without even facing any challenge by an opponent.While these ten states were the best for “lazy campaigners” the national average for all state legislatures was 31.6% of incumbents ran unopposed.

The Marketing Value

If you care less about election outcomes and more about increasing your topline revenue, then we have your solution as well. Our comprehensive campaign contact data includes all the information you need to power your marketing campaign, personalize your messages depending on party, strength of the candidacy and how much money they have to spend.

Our data includes a marketing rating that scores each campaign. This one is not for political purposes but allows our customers to focus their efforts on the camps that are most likely to have both the desire and financial ability to make purchases of campaign oriented products.  Direct mail and digital marketing cost money, and we help you keep your investments in those areas targeted where your ROI has the greatest potential.

The Overall Value

Whether you want to analyze individual races at the US or state level, or you have products and services to sell to political campaigns, we have the comprehensive and quality data you need. There’s just a little over 700 days until the 2016 elections, and it’s not too early to start planning. Make KnowWho data part your next election cycle and be better for it.

 

With more than 30 years of experience in politics and technology, Tom is the principal technology director for KnowWho overseeing all aspects of database design and deployment, and all application design and development. Specializations in RDBMS administration, software project management and geospatial & political data analysis.

 

About BillTrack50 – BillTrack50 offers free tools for citizens to easily research legislators and bills across all 50 states and Congress. BillTrack50 also offers professional tools to help organizations with ongoing legislative and regulatory tracking, as well as easy ways to share information both internally and with the public.