Unlock the Power of Victory: The Science Behind Winning Political Campaigns

IramGT: History lesson, isn’t anything else

Mexico on Jul 16, 2022

Amazon Customer: Average

India on Oct 30, 2019

Julia Juan Gimeno: Un libro fundamental para entender las claves que llevaron a la reelección de Obama en las Presidenciales estadounidenses de 2012. Un libro fundamental para los amantes de la política norteamericana.

Spain on Nov 03, 2018

J. P. Bird: extremely quick delivery. Arrived in good condition. Very good reading material and useful as a source of results and methodology

United Kingdom on Sep 10, 2016

Joe: ln the past, politicians and political consultants relied on their guts. As the old advertising adage goes, half of all money is wasted in advertising, we just don't know what half. The same was true of politics. Political scientists could only half guess what political messaging was effective.

Big data, behavioural psychology and microtargeting are here to stay and will only get more refined as technology and techniques improve. This book is an early foray into the new, data-driven politics of the future.

Canada on Jun 08, 2015

John M. Ford: This is a book about how to win an election in the age of high tech and big data. Campaigning is no longer about broadcasting a candidate's message to the widest possible audience. It is not even about distinguishing between a candidate's supporters, opponents, and the undecided to send a different message to each group. It is about tapping vast quantities of data available about most American adults and targeting each person with the most effective personalized strategy. And it is about finding the best messages, issues, even rumors, using experimental comparisons. It is about doing this below the radar, out of the awareness of the public. This is the nature of the modern political battlefield as seen by both parties. The strategy, tactics, and personalities who make this possible are the subject of this book.

The book's narrative is a collection of smaller stories. There are brief biographies of those who developed and refined new approaches to collecting and using voter data. There are success and failure stories of various campaigns and of major battles within those campaigns. And there are the specific tactics these people deploy. It is impossible to list them all, so...

United States on Oct 13, 2014

JJ: First, let me stipulate that I am a political junkie. I've worked on campaigns from the local to the federal level. I've worked with challengers and incumbents. I love politics.

This is a good book, especially for those who are newer within the campaign management field. This book alone won't help you win a campaign, but will provide you with an overview of where politics is going. The big focus of the book is in micro-targeting voters. Be that as it may, the book isn't technical at all - no "shoptalk" to worry about. One of the nice things about the book is that there really isn't a bias for or against one party/ideology. The book talks about people for R and D campaigns using the info.

The largest issue with the book is that it gets long winded. Some of the examples used provide way more background information (for example: about the person the anecdote revolves around) than anyone really cares about.

United States on Oct 16, 2013

platpak: This book really brought a lot of things full circle for me. I dabbled in the 2008 election as a 20 year old (still the best time of my life) and it reminded me of how so much of my empirical prowess came from tutorials with the Iowa Voter File Manager. I dabbled in field organizing, and coalition organizing too even! It's experiences in my own life, yet Issenberg helps me reflect on how impactful they were with his authenticity and comprehensiveness. It's truly the handbook I wish I had been given 5 years ago to understand how unique of a moment I was in.

It's also refreshing how well he traces the topic from 1920s Ivory Tower disciplinary squabbles to transit buses in Akron, merging the academic with the tactics, all the while hoisting up the dedication and curiosity of so many individuals without whom this revolution seemingly would not be the same. The 'strivers' are all so quintessentially American that you really just have to smile about how great a political journalist he is!

United States on Aug 17, 2013

Frances Brent: Man, this a tough but fun, fun read. In telling the story of the scientific and intellectual development of academic Political Science and professional political operators you meet more characters than in a Russian novel. I am on my second time around, this time underlining and making notes. We begin in the twenties with the first true study of voter behavior and end up with the fascinating data mining that aided Obama's 2012 victory. Issenberg is a good story teller, able to weave narrative strands over decades and campaigns. This will become a standard text for those who love the art of politics.

United States on Apr 05, 2013

Sheri A. Smith: This is a great book. It is filled with amazing insider details about every big campaign in the last thirty years. It will having you grinning and shaking your head at some of the strategy that some campaign analysts came up with.The author has obtained amazing access. This history familiarizes the reader with the the decisions that campaigns make to identify & motivate likely voters. The second half of the book lays out in detail the sophistication employed to great success in 2008 & 2012. I am a campaign veteran and learned much. Fun absorbing read

United States on Jan 26, 2013