Campaign Trend Podcast Build, Don't Borrow: The New Audience Strategy in Politics
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Mar 25, 2026 Doug Usher, Partner at Forbes Tate Partners and Columbia analytics co-founder, has decades in opinion research and political strategy. He explains building direct audiences on social platforms versus borrowing endorsements and ads. He explores how audience ownership reshapes post-election power, why moderates struggle in an algorithm-driven landscape, and which politicians are already playing the long game.
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Build Versus Borrow Defined
- Campaigns historically won by borrowing existing audiences through endorsements and paid media.
- Doug Usher explains building means creating a one-to-many personal audience via social content that forms a durable direct connection to voters.
Audience Ownership Turns Politicians Into Institutions
- Owning an audience converts a candidate into an institution that can mobilize supporters after election day.
- Usher cites Bernie Sanders, AOC, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Donald Trump as examples who use direct audiences to drive endorsements, calls, and fundraising.
Personal Brands Undermine Party Discipline
- Personal audiences weaken traditional party discipline because leaders can no longer control members by threatening institutional support.
- Usher argues this fragmentation makes legislatures harder to organize and govern.