It’s the puzzle so many are trying to solve—seeing the future. Can “Twitter sentiment” accurately predict the movement of Facebook’s stock price? Can the Romney campaign reliably forecast a Super Tuesday win based on social media trending?
Firms such as Gallup, A.C. Nielsen, Attensity, Netvibes, DataSift and Lithium are racing for the answer. But a small startup called PoliticIt at Utah State University in northern Utah got there first.
In the last month, PoliticIt examined its data on more than 90 upcoming primary races all across the nation—races for the Senate, the House and for governor—and it correctly predicted the outcome in a remarkable 87 percent of those races. PoliticIt accurately called the results in 100 percent of Utah primary campaigns, including in three “upset” cases that traditional polling got totally wrong.
How did this six-month-old startup, created by five Jon M. Huntsman School of Business students and Professor John D. Johnson, develop a functioning political crystal ball before giant firms such as A.C. Nielsen? Sys-Con Media
