The VCS voter file contains a wealth of demographic information on each voter. Some come with the voter files, some are added through standard File Matching and others are added by updating procedures by the campaign or local organization. In order to most effectively use this information for a winning campaign it is useful to have certain information about the voters. A demographic analysis of the district is essential to the preparation of a good campaign plan. Exact counts of various demographic groups are the basis of targeting campaign activities.
VCS has a wide variety of Demographic Analysis reports available to assist in this process. Some are free and some must be purchased. The quickest and simplest are the Free Immediate Counts from the National Political DataBase. These counts provide a lot of information with just a couple of clicks. For detailed planning and targeting, though, you may want more sophisticated analysis.
All VCS Affiliates have free access to a substantially expanded set of free reports that can be prepared on the Affiliate portion of the VCS Website. In the Affiliate Demographics system over 600 different counts are available for each of the more than 210,000 precincts in the VCS voter file. You can view a tutorial about this system at Affiliate Demographics (PDF), download a (user defined) sample report(XLS), or try the system for the San Francisco Bay Area. Some affiliates can also use the VCS AutoCount system, which delivers specific counts of any demographic groups within a few minutes.
For more complex analysis VCS prepares a variety of specialty reports which can be tailored to the customer’s specifications. The most common of these is the Monterey Profile. This is a one page cross tab report that can be prepared in a number of different combinations. A “standard report” is defined for every state. Two copies of this “standard report” are delivered at no charge with each random sample, one covers the voter base and the other covers the sample selected. These reports come with summary pages for each county in the district and a final overall summary page. They are delivered both as pdf files and also as Excel files. Click for a sample “standard report” for Orange County, California. They can also be prepared directly with the AutoOrder system, in which case a report is generally available within a few minutes.
This report can be prepared in a wide variety of configurations other than the standard report. The ten right columns can be set to represent almost any demographic group. For instance, by using the columns to display voters with certain census data you can see how such groups cross tab with conventional political demographics such as party, age, gender, etc. Click for a sample of a statewide report in Georgia with various census data in most of the columns. Race is coded directly on the Georgia voter file, so black voters are included in the second column and also in the row below the Party rows.
A number of other specialized Demographic Reports are also available. We still prepare the occasional Cross Count Profile (Count Book) for those who prefer this traditional format. Give us a call and we’ll help you find the demographic information that you need.
