He don't need to stinkin' data
by digby
He gave another interview ...
Donald Trump, GOP nomination virtually in hand, is planning a general election campaign that banks heavily on his personal appeal and trademark rallies while spurning the kind of sophisticated data operation that was a centerpiece of Barack Obama's winning White House runs.
"I've always felt it was overrated," Trump said in an interview Tuesday. "Obama got the votes much more so than his data processing machine. And I think the same is true with me."
[...]
Trump said he doesn't plan to announce his running mate until the Republican National Convention in July, a four-day event that he's planning to remake with a showman's touch.
"The concept of some entertainment from a great singer, a great group I think would be something maybe to break things up," Trump said. "You'll be hearing plenty of political speeches."
[...]
Even as he brings in new staff for the general election, he says his emphasis will continue to be on raucous rallies that put him in front of thousands of voters and generate significant free media coverage.
"My best investment is my rallies," Trump said. "The people go home, they tell their friends they loved it. It's been good."
The businessman said he'll spend "limited" money on data operations to identify and track potential voters and to model various turnout scenarios that could give him the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency. He's moving away from the model Obama used successfully in his 2008 and 2012 wins, and the one that likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is trying to replicate, including hiring many of the staff that worked for Obama.
Separately, the Republican National Committee has invested heavily in data operations, eager to avoid another defeat to a more technologically savvy Democratic candidate. Trump could make use of that RNC data or leave voter targeting to the party.
It's not surprising that he would reject using sophisticated data gathering to win. His career has been made that way. He made it quite clear in "The Art of the Deal" that he didn't hold with those numbers crunching nerds:
"I don't trust fancy marketing surveys. I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions."
He liked to ask cab drivers their opinion of certain neighborhoods.
He figures that since he was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple by inheriting hundreds of millions and buying Manhattan real estate (as if that takes some kind of special savvy) that he's a genius. I guess we'll find out just good his "gut" really is.
He also said he wouldn't run any negative ads even though he's already doing it and assured everyone that there's nothing interesting in his tax returns so he isn't going to release them.
Basically, Trump is going to run the general election the same way he ran the primary and plans to put on a circus at the convention unlike anything we've seen before. Maybe the press can be a little bit more prepared this time. Or maybe not.
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