Big data helped Trump even after he scorned it

Washington - Donald Trump derided the use of data and technology tools for his presidential campaign, but those techniques might well have propelled him to victory.

Trump's stealth digital campaign, thrown together hastily in the final months of the campaign, allowed the Republican billionaire to fine-tune his message and reach voters in crucial Rust Belt states that gave him an Electoral College majority.

During the primaries, Trump dismissed as "overrated" the kinds of data analytics and "micro-targeting" successfully used by President Barack Obama.