Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 15 submissions in the queue.

Clinton Campaign Relied Heavily on Computer Algorithm

posted by on Saturday November 19 2016, @01:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the simon-says-campaign-in-pennsylvania dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for chromas

The Clinton presidential campaign used a complex computer algorithm called Ada to assist in many of the most important decisions during the race.

According to aides, a raft of polling numbers, public and private, were fed into the algorithm, as well as ground-level voter data meticulously collected by the campaign. Once early voting began, those numbers were factored in, too.

What Ada did, based on all that data, aides said, was run 400,000 simulations a day of what the race against Trump might look like. A report that was spit out would give campaign manager Robby Mook and others a detailed picture of which battleground states were most likely to tip the race in one direction or another — and guide decisions about where to spend time and deploy resources.

Of course, the results are only as good as the data. Since the outcome of the election was different than most poll predictions, it seems like Ada may have had a Garbage In, Garbage Out problem.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Clinton Campaign Relied Heavily on Computer Algorithm | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 57 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday November 20 2016, @02:19PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 20 2016, @02:19PM (#429901) Journal
    I think that your concerns aren't warranted here. Obviously, whatever algorithm in play here is likely to remain a black box and thus, there is a certain futility to speculation about the operation of said black box. But Francis has actually given strong indications, going back over a year I might add, which indicate he has actually given election issues some serious thought, actually has some degree of personal experience with the issues, and that his speculation on such matters is not as groundless as it might first appear. This is much better than his usual and I think you should recognize that.

    As to Francis's speculation, I think I can provide a more constructive criticism.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday November 20 2016, @08:57PM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday November 20 2016, @08:57PM (#430076) Journal

    This is much better than his usual and I think you should recognize that.

    Not sure I see that. Seems more like a case of Hilary Derangement Syndrome, from which you also suffer. But that is just my opinion, and what do I know?

    As to Francis's speculation, I think I can provide a more constructive criticism.

    Have at it! This is why we are all here, to help Francis become a better commenter, and to make SoylentNews a better world.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday November 20 2016, @11:14PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 20 2016, @11:14PM (#430190) Journal

      Seems more like a case of Hilary Derangement Syndrome

      Says the guy who just posted a hysterical article [soylentnews.org] about Peter Thiel's role with the Trump administration.

      • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday November 21 2016, @01:18AM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Monday November 21 2016, @01:18AM (#430257) Journal

        Alright, I have to ask: do you mean "hysterical" as in hysterically funny, or as in being controlled by a uterus? (Έχω τρεις ὑστέραi.)