Princeton Election Consortium – A first draft of electoral history. Since 2004 – Sam Wong, April 26, 2016: “In human genetics there is a form of analysis called a genome-wide association study (“GWAS”). In this kind of analysis, the researcher looks for bits of DNA that show up more often in people with some trait or disease. Motivations for doing this kind of study include (a) finding genetic variations that contribute to a condition, so they can be studied; and (b) providing a way of estimating the chance that a condition will occur. However, GWAS is full of challenges. One of my research interests is autism. Autism is strongly driven by combinations of genes, yet GWAS has only succeeded in identifying a small fraction of the risk. Many of these bits of DNA have all kinds of other effects (this is a project in my lab…and hey, I’m recruiting!). The Google Correlate method for political prediction is analogous to GWAS…but better! In this analogy, Google search terms are the “genes.” Thousands (maybe millions) of Google search terms are statistically associated with the frequency at which a state votes for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton, or Bernie Sanders supporters. Some of these terms make intuitive sense; others are mind-bending…”