The Republican National Committee’s ground game resulted in voter turnout very similar to stated goals, possibly the result of targeting specific voter categories, according to an RNC press conference Monday.
The RNC targeted specific classes of voters for email, phone, and social media campaigns. Party workers were able to narrow social media targeting so minutely that roughly 80 percent of anyone who saw a particular ad was supposed to see it, according to data from Facebook and Twitter, RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer told reporters Monday.
The voter category prioritized the highest was the “base voter,” a voter who is very likely to vote for Trump, but needs to be contacted in order to go out and vote. This demographic was described as the “low-hanging fruit” that was relatively easy to persuade compared to the other demographics.
The second highest category were what the RNC staffers called “unallocated” voters. Spicer described these voters as people who traditionally voted for Republican candidates, but when surveyed, indicated they were undecided.
The next category targeted were the solid undecided voters, individuals who told volunteers they were undecided in the election, but have voted for Republicans at least once before in their voting career. Finally, counties like Miami-Dade, Pinellas, and Palm Beach played host to the “leans Democratic” class of voter. These are voters who were registered Democrats, but expressed an issue with at least one of President Barack Obama’s policies.
Those voters received ads that labeled Clinton as simply an extension of Obama’s policies, and in some cases, individual polices were called out in advertising.
Trump trailed in the southernmost counties of Florida, but made significant gains over what was expected. Some of the RNC efforts at least served to demotivate Democratic voters who historically voted for Obama.
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