No One Understands Corporate Boycotts Like This Former Trump Researcher
Corporate America is a new battlefield in US politics, and Matt Oczkowski's insights have become key to navigating the culture wars.
Before he devoted himself to understanding consumer psychology, Matt Oczkowski spent his time plumbing the minds of voters, with what turned out to be a singularly earth-shattering political consequence.
In 2016, Oczkowski was a top data scientist for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. At a time when the whole world thought his candidate was going to lose, Oczkowski was convinced his data pointed to a hidden tribe of Trump voters. These “disenfranchised new Republicans,” as he called them, were younger, more populist and more rural than typical Republicans—also angrier and fiercely loyal to the candidate. Instead of tax and entitlement cuts, they cared about law and order, immigration and wages. Oczkowski’s team persuaded Trump to spend his final weeks courting these hypothetical supporters in Upper Midwest states that few thought he could carry.