Patrick Ruffini has been on the cutting edge of politics for 20+ years, as one of the first wave of operatives working in the tech and digital political space. After working at the RNC in 2004, he started an early political tech firm and then formed Echelon Insights to merge political data and tech. In this conversation, Patrick talks his career trajectory, the advancement of digital political tools, and how American politics has evolved in the age of Donald Trump.
IN THIS EPISODE…
Patrick’s unusual bi-national upbringing…
Patrick starts following politics at a very early age…
A young Patrick on the cutting edge of the political boom on the internet…
Patrick’s 1998 correspondence with Karl Rove…
Patrick’s stint at the RNC in 2004….
Patrick breaks down the tech impact of the Obama 2008 campaign…
Patrick starts his own digital firm Engage…
The importance of the 2012 GOP “autopsy” report on Patrick’s career…
Patrick starts Echelon Insights with GOP pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson…
Patrick’s advice on how to balance reliance on polling vs analytics…
What Patrick has learned about social media listening…
Patrick’s dissection about the recent populist direction of the Republican Party…
Patrick talks of Glenn Youngkin-type candidates as the future of the GOP…
Patrick’s take on the recent reduced racial polarization in the electorate…
Patrick previews a book he’s working on that outlines a rising cross-racial coalition of the Republican Party…
Patrick talks some of the new measurement tools he’s excited about…
AND base politics, Joe Biden, blaming the internet, Blue State Digital, Scott Brown, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Eric Cantor, the center-right blogosphere, Mike Connell, Howard Dean, Chuck DeFeo, Becki Donatelli, Efficient Market Hypothesis, Facebook, Mindy Finn, governing agendas, Don Green, Mickey Kaus, John Kerry, Josh Marshall, John McCain, mybarackobama.com , RCTs, relational organizing, Mitt Romney, snake oil, Andrew Sullivan, the War on Terror, & more!