[8] In 2019, Politico reported he joined the board of directors of liberal nonprofit ACRONYM, where he would advise an anti-Trump digital campaign.

[11] He is from a working-class Roman Catholic family (he is now a practicing Episcopalian[12]),[13] the son of Frances (née Vincent), a stay-at-home mother, and James Everett "Jim" Plouffe, a factory worker who later worked in marketing.

He left the University of Delaware prior to graduation in 1989 to pursue a full-time career in politics and he completed his full undergraduate degree in May 2010.

He is also credited by The New Republic for Obama's success in the Iowa caucus and for crafting an overall strategy to prolong the primary past Super Tuesday.

The Chicago Tribune wrote "Plouffe was the mastermind behind a winning strategy that looked well past Super Tuesday's contests on Feb. 5 and placed value on large and small states".

[19] In June 2008, when then-Senator Obama clinched the Democratic Party nomination, he thanked Plouffe for being the one "who never gets any credit, but has built the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States".

In May 2008, David Axelrod praised Plouffe, stating he had "done the most magnificent job of managing a campaign that I've seen in my life of watching presidential politics.

His book The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory, discussing management strategies and tactics that he used in the 2008 campaign,[22] was published on November 3, 2009, and became a New York Times bestseller.

[23][24] Plouffe signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau to give paid speeches and plans to engage in non-government consulting work.

[27] In his role as senior advisor, Plouffe led the crafting of White House strategy and communicating the president's message.

[38] In September 2019, Plouffe was invited to join the board of directors of ACRONYM, a liberal nonprofit group focused on digital messaging, by CEO Tara McGowan.

[43][44] In December 2010, Plouffe received $100,000 for two speeches in Nigeria from an affiliate of the South African telecommunications company MTN Group.

[45] White House spokesman Eric Schultz stated that Plouffe had only spoken to the group about digital communications and cellular technology, and had declined to meet with the company's leadership.

[46] In 2013, in response to accusations from Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) that the Obama administration knew about the IRS targeting of not-for-profit conservative groups for extra scrutiny, Plouffe tweeted: "Strong words from Mr Grand Theft Auto and suspected arsonist/insurance swindler.

Plouffe is married to Olivia Morgan, a senior advisor to Maria Shriver's A Woman's Nation, a member of Obama's President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities,[54][55] and Director of Federal Relations to then California Governor Gray Davis.