Survey data has become the North Star of the Democratic Party and politically active liberals. Statisticians proved to be better forecasters of election outcomes than pundits and strategists, so over the past decade and a half we’ve outsourced the whole vocation of politics to them. It was a fateful development, but it hasn’t been a smashing success. Have we landed in the best possible place? Or can we do better? Why don’t Republicans follow this same strategy? Conversely, with Republicans given back over to highly compromised candidates in this election, why are Democrats shrugging off their scandals and sticking to the pocketbook issues playbook? Especially when that playbook has such mixed results. Data journalist and Washington Post opinion columnist Perry Bacon Jr. joins Brian to talk about the limits of quantitative methods in politics, and how a smarter approach to data can help Democrats, when democracy itself is on the line.