America has spoken and Barack Obama will retain his spot in the White House for another four years. SiliconANGLE Founder John Furrier has been following the election very closely. He said on the political level, Romney had a strong fiscal policy while Obama’s social agenda was spot on, making the ideal party one that is liberal socially and fiscal conservative. Furrier identified the two central areas around this year’s election. He believes the Republicans are absolutely “out to lunch” around what the pulse is in this country; they seemed unable to recognize the diversity of the voting audience. The second huge impact on the election was the social angle. Smartphones, social media and big data played a massive role in highlighting the demographic shift of the actual voters.

Furrier credits Obama with laying his ground game in the summer of 2011. Obama collected a mass of volunteers and experts in big data, and he used data in targeting email messages and getting the word out. Obama had two major strategies that secured his re-election. One was his actual, physical ground game – he went to battleground states like Colorado and Ohio, getting there early and aligning himself with the diverse audiences. But the real key to Obama’s win, says Furrier, was that he nailed the virtual cyberspace ground game. He established the big data angle, essentially using data in targeting voters, in email messages, and in social media.

The demographics are clear – the country is about hope and growth, which is why Romney’s fiscal policies were attractive. However, Obama speaks to the heart of the upward mobility wanna-be entrepreneurs, especially immigrants who want to be entrepreneurs and contribute to society. Ultimately, today’s tech culture has shifted the game in terms of voting. There’s a whole new generation of people coming into the voting electorate who are young and have a definite perspective about what the future should look like.

Furrier said, “When the book is written on this election, it’s going to be written as big data,
internet culture, and mobile phones as a way to get people to share their opinions, and that      . . .  allowed everyone to have a voice and connect with somebody.”

Furrier spoke about meeting with the Chief Data Scientist for Obama’s campaign back in September and what they had in place for their social media strategy. They didn’t use social media to spam people and hound them to vote, but rather inspired people by establishing what the signals are for the audience, and then aligning with those audiences to deliver the messages they wanted to receive. Without big data, Furrier does not believe Obama would have won.

Read John Furrier’s editorial here – Opinion: How Big Data Can Change the Game – Big Data propels Obama to re-election

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2012/11/08/opinion-how-big-data-can-change-the-game-big-data-propels-obama-to-re-election/

See John’s video segment with Kristin Feledy and John Furrier on the Morning NewsDesk show.