How campaigns are using marketing, manipulation, and "psychographic targeting" to win elections—and weaken democracy

Republican and Democratic data firms are hard at work on the next generation of digital tools—driven by the idea that political campaigns can identify and influence voters by gathering as much data about them as possible. “To be a technology president used to be a very cool thing,” said Zac Moffatt, who ran Mitt Romney’s 2012 digital campaign. “And now it’s a very dangerous thing.” The manipulation of personal data to advance a political cause undermines a fundamental aspect of American democracy: the idea of a free and fair election.