In DC, Cambridge Analytica Not Exactly Toast of the Town

Cambridge Analytica has a mixed reputation in Washington (DC).

Several Republican strategists who have worked with or met with Cambridge in the past year see the company as a curiosity, an intellectually-advanced interloper that never really "got" American politics. Sources say the company bit off more than it could chew and failed to deliver some of the technology and analytics services it sold or meet crushing election-season deadlines. Even so, it has been widely-reported that Cambridge Analytica now is working with Donald Trump, whose GOP presidential campaign has been woefully devoid of a serious data team. GOP insiders affirm recent reports that Cambridge now has staff embedded with Donald Trump's campaign.

"I think they're not Americans, and they have a little bit of trouble understanding the American political systems and how things work," said a GOP political consultant. The consultant believes Cambridge's voter-data modeling is sophisticated and effective, but also complained that the firm is more focused on its sales and marketing efforts than actually fulfilling core analytics work promised to clients.