Leonid Bershidsky, Columnist

No, Big Data Didn't Win the U.S. Election

Don't believe the hype that a U.K. company deserves credit for Donald Trump's victory.

December 8, 2016 at 7:56 PM UTC

Leonid Bershidsky, formerly Bloomberg Opinion’s Europe columnist, is a member of the Bloomberg News Automation Team. He recently published Russian translations of George Orwell’s “1984” and Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”

Who's running who?
Photographer: Ben Torres/Bloomberg

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One of the most enjoyable parts of the fallout from a big political upset is the victory dance of those who claim they brought it about. In the aftermath of Donald Trump's victory, a legend is being built around London-based Cambridge Analytica, which advised Trump's campaign using "big data" -- one of the most magical phrases in tech.

That legend should be taken with a grain of salt, though. Trump didn't really win because he ran a smarter, more tech-savvy campaign than Hillary Clinton.