I canvassed for Dems today. Why only target Registered Dem and Registered Unaffiliated but no Repub or unreg?

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gregh1

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Did some canvassing today, first time. The provided list (via the app) targets homes of registered Dems (who theoretically have not yet voted, though this seems buggy ATM) and registered Unaffiliated. Why not include Registered Repubs and why not include people who aren't registered at all?

There were 80 million non-voters (old enough but just didn't vote) in 2020. Ipsos polled 2020 nonvoters and found overall, 70% of nonvoters said they were not registered to vote. These people were mostly not following news or debates about candidates. The non-voters reasons for not voting:
  • not being registered to vote (29%)
  • not being interested in politics (23%)
  • not liking the candidates (20%)
  • a feeling their vote wouldn't have made a difference (16%)
  • being undecided on whom to vote for (10%)
Shouldn't Dems be knocking on the doors of the 23 to 56 million unregistered people's doors instead of registered Dems given these polarized and historically high turnout times? They aren't watching the news, so unless someone knocks on their door their only influence might be social media.
And shouldn't we be courting Registered Repubs given how many never-Trumpers exist? At least these people are registered, and you could even cull lists that isolated people who actually voted in the past (vs registered but just never voting).

It was single-fam homes, mixed income levels. The people that answered the door on my knocks were very emphatic about the election, turnout won't be a problem for any of them, thus I feel like I was preaching to the choir instead of preaching to someone who might be an undecided or wind up a non-voter. I felt slightly more like a poll-data collector than an actual get-out-the-vote person.
 
gregh1 said:
Did some canvassing today, first time. The provided list (via the app) targets homes of registered Dems (who theoretically have not yet voted, though this seems buggy ATM) and registered Unaffiliated. Why not include Registered Repubs and why not include people who aren't registered at all?

There were 80 million non-voters (old enough but just didn't vote) in 2020. Ipsos polled 2020 nonvoters and found overall, 70% of nonvoters said they were not registered to vote. These people were mostly not following news or debates about candidates. The non-voters reasons for not voting:
  • not being registered to vote (29%)
  • not being interested in politics (23%)
  • not liking the candidates (20%)
  • a feeling their vote wouldn't have made a difference (16%)
  • being undecided on whom to vote for (10%)
Shouldn't Dems be knocking on the doors of the 23 to 56 million unregistered people's doors instead of registered Dems given these polarized and historically high turnout times? They aren't watching the news, so unless someone knocks on their door their only influence might be social media.
And shouldn't we be courting Registered Repubs given how many never-Trumpers exist? At least these people are registered, and you could even cull lists that isolated people who actually voted in the past (vs registered but just never voting).

It was single-fam homes, mixed income levels. The people that answered the door on my knocks were very emphatic about the election, turnout won't be a problem for any of them, thus I feel like I was preaching to the choir instead of preaching to someone who might be an undecided or wind up a non-voter. I felt slightly more like a poll-data collector than an actual get-out-the-vote person.
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It’s “get out the vote”, not “chat up people who will never vote”. This is very much about the ROI on votes from those the Dems should be getting. This late in the game you’re maxing out what you know your side can do, not laying the groundwork for conversion.
 
They don't want unpaid volunteers in charge of the messaging. That's for the professionals.

Your job is to get people to the polls. Yes, most of them will go anyway. But if 1 in 20 are not, and of those, 1 of 2 do vote after reminders, that's adding 2.5% to Kamala's numbers. Enough to make a difference in any swing state.
 
it is too late for a person to register to vote and vote in this election in most jurisdictions. Even if they can, I would guess you get the most bang for your buck by targeting already registered voters. Resources are limited so go after what is more likely to pay off.

Same applies for targeting Republicans. Just not enough return on investment. You could even get a negative return.

Finally, it today’s climate it could be risky and demoralizing for the volunteers.
 
superrific said:
They don't want unpaid volunteers in charge of the messaging. That's for the professionals.

Your job is to get people to the polls. Yes, most of them will go anyway. But if 1 in 20 are not, and of those, 1 of 2 do vote after reminders, that's adding 2.5% to Kamala's numbers. Enough to make a difference in any swing state.
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The unregistered's aren't getting the message though. I understand oodles of money and data science are informing these decisions, so if "reminders" really helps, then I'm glad i did what I did. I'm having trouble fathoming people could "forget" or need extra nudging in this era.

I'd Iove to see the Ipsos poll question for non-voters: "how many forgot or just didn't get enough nudges".
 
ChapelHillSooner said:
it is too late for a person to register to vote and vote in this election in most jurisdictions. Even if they can, I would guess you get the most bang for your buck by targeting already registered voters. Resources are limited so go after what is more likely to pay off.

Same applies for targeting Republicans. Just not enough return on investment. You could even get a negative return.

Finally, it today’s climate it could be risky and demoralizing for the volunteers.
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Good point about it being too late. I forgot this about NC.
 
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Geisterfahrer said:
It’s “get out the vote”, not “chat up people who will never vote”. This is very much about the ROI on votes from those the Dems should be getting. This late in the game you’re maxing out what you know your side can do, not laying the groundwork for conversion.
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Honestly i hadn't really considered the fact that this was less about persuasion and more about nudges/reminders. The "script" obviously includes selling points that are trying to motivate someone to action and it seems applicable to unreg as well as undecided-but-reg-as-pub.

Many states do allow same-day registration... and if that was the case in NC I'm still not sure why me knocking on unregistered doors instead of the doors of people that have multiple Harris/Stein signs in their yards is yielding less ROI.
 
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gregh1 said:
Is conversion attempted earlier in the cycle (via canvassing) for these unregistered people who aren't consuming mainstream media?
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Definitely the Dems and I suppose some historical version of the Pubs do voter registration drives. A lot of non-partisan groups do this also. But if you mean ideological influencing, I don’t think that’s really a thing.
 
Sending Harris people to Republican houses certainly has a certain amount of risk to it.

Just last night, for the first time ever, someone came to our house asking for my wife, wanting to ensure that she was going to vote for Harris. I assume that's a reflection of how close Arizona is in the internal polling.

I assured the gentleman that she would be voting for Harris. When I told her who was at the door, her eventual response was "I hope they don't go to any of the houses on our cul-de-sac..." Because we know they are occupied by some hardcore trumpers. I would hope that they would not resort to violence, but you never know in today's political environment.
 
I've had similar feelings about doing phone banking. I wrote a bit about that here. But lots of wrong numbers, some folks not answering or hanging up. I spoke with a couple anti-Harris people -- one was on a wrong number while I think the other was the correct number but the intended contact wasn't home and someone else answered. I spoke with some very nice Harris supporters, but it didn't seem that they needed to be reminded. This included a few who had not voted early for one reason or another.

Maybe I spoke with a 3-4 undecided voters and/or folks who needed a little nudge. But I really can't say. I wasn't overly pushy -- tried to be respectful of people's privacy and their time.

By the way, this was calling people in NC. I'd guess over two evenings -- maybe an hour or hour-and-a-half each time -- I made something like 45-50 calls in total.

I hope this kind of effort is helpful if enough volunteers are out there doing it. I trust that the campaign experts know. their stuff.
 
Geisterfahrer said:
Definitely the Dems and I suppose some historical version of the Pubs do voter registration drives. A lot of non-partisan groups do this also. But if you mean ideological influencing, I don’t think that’s really a thing.
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Aight. Regardless they wouldn't be relying on rookies like me i guess.
 
gregh1 said:
Wait, so i could've been knocking on unregistered doors instead of doors with 3 dem signs and 2 dem Harris bumper stickers, given that we're still in early voting?
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Trust the campaign. They know what they are doing, trust me. They have you doing the most impactful thing you can do well.
 
ole howard1 said:
I've had similar feelings about doing phone banking. I wrote a bit about that here. But lots of wrong numbers, some folks not answering or hanging up. I spoke with a couple anti-Harris people -- one was on a wrong number while I think the other was the correct number but the intended contact wasn't home and someone else answered. I spoke with some very nice Harris supporters, but it didn't seem that they needed to be reminded. This included a few who had not voted early for one reason or another.

Maybe I spoke with a 3-4 undecided voters and/or folks who needed a little nudge. But I really can't say. I wasn't overly pushy -- tried to be respectful of people's privacy and their time.

By the way, this was calling people in NC. I'd guess over two evenings -- maybe an hour or hour-and-a-half each time -- I made something like 45-50 calls in total.

I hope this kind of effort is helpful if enough volunteers are out there doing it. I trust that the campaign experts know. their stuff.
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Thanks. I'm going again Sat am. It's desperation hour... I'll just have to hope that at least one of the 50 doors is someone who is feeling blah for some reason til i get there.
 
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ZenMode said:
Sending Harris people to Republican houses certainly has a certain amount of risk to it.

Just last night, for the first time ever, someone came to our house asking for my wife, wanting to ensure that she was going to vote for Harris. I assume that's a reflection of how close Arizona is in the internal polling.

I assured the gentleman that she would be voting for Harris. When I told her who was at the door, her eventual response was "I hope they don't go to any of the houses on our cul-de-sac..." Because we know they are occupied by some hardcore trumpers. I would hope that they would not resort to violence, but you never know in today's political environment.
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I was wearing neutral clothes and my approach was mostly "hey, i'm gregh1 from zzl, I took this afternoon off to make sure everyone is excited about the election, have you voted... if so can i ask who"? Everyone was quick to say who they were voting for before i got to even asking.

Obviously most of my convos today were super brief and more about downballot.
 
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gregh1 said:
Thanks. I'm going again Sat am. It's desperation hour... I'll just have to hope that at least one of the 50 doors is someone who is feeling blah for some reason til i get there.
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As a fellow canvasser I want to thank you for getting out to help the effort. Yeah, it can seem like it’s preaching to the choir only going to registered D and UNA homes, but the data shows that a certain percentage are more likely to vote if nudged and given attention. The number of not at home or no answer can be a bit discouraging, but leaving the brochures do help some lower information people. Even at places where they would not open the door, I would ask if we could leave the literature and all said “YES”.

As Zen noted above, the campaign office does not want to send volunteers to doors where there is risk of conflict. Now if you decide to do that on your own, they might say to go with what you’re comfortable. The downside is that the app is not designed for easy data collection for unlisted residences. However, I did talk to a few people that were out and unlisted and recorded the results in the “notes” tab for the closest listed residence. It is unlikely also that you were given enough brochures to leave at unlisted locations.

When you go out Saturday, ask if they will give you a Harris/Walz tee shirt to wear canvassing. It helps to make people aware of why you are at their door when they peak through the window.

Again, thanks for your participation. I trust that seeing and talking to volunteers out excited to help the Democratic candidates will make a difference.
 
GQNC said:
As a fellow canvasser I want to thank you for getting out to help the effort. Yeah, it can seem like it’s preaching to the choir only going to registered D and UNA homes, but the data shows that a certain percentage are more likely to vote if nudged and given attention. The number of not at home or no answer can be a bit discouraging, but leaving the brochures do help some lower information people. Even at places where they would not open the door, I would ask if we could leave the literature and all said “YES”.

As Zen noted above, the campaign office does not want to send volunteers to doors where there is risk of conflict. Now if you decide to do that on your own, they might say to go with what you’re comfortable. The downside is that the app is not designed for easy data collection for unlisted residences. However, I did talk to a few people that were out and unlisted and recorded the results in the “notes” tab for the closest listed residence. It is unlikely also that you were given enough brochures to leave at unlisted locations.

When you go out Saturday, ask if they will give you a Harris/Walz tee shirt to wear canvassing. It helps to make people aware of why you are at their door when they peak through the window.

Again, thanks for your participation. I trust that seeing and talking to volunteers out excited to help the Democratic candidates will make a difference.
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Thanks back.

For anyone else, this might be the new normal, so fyi that canvassing is REALLY easy. The hardest part is the commute to the headquarters to pick-up your materials (flyers). The app is very easy to use, it provides a map, context for the individuals behind the doors, and near-one-click buttons for updating outcome.
 
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