Ever since the 2021 Georgia Senate Runoff, Hope Springs from Field PAC has evolved from a “pop up” (or one off) PAC to a grassroots driven project aimed at in-person voter contact in the Senate and Electoral College Swing States. I wrote about my visits with our grassroots volunteers and organizers in December and January previously (Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Northern Florida), but one of the suggestions that came out of those visits was the idea that we should survey our volunteers to get a global view of who are our volunteers.
Over two Saturdays, 1411 volunteers turned in a survey, providing a better idea about who are, and what drives or motivates Hope Springs volunteers.
56% of our volunteers were Female. A mere 18% were first-time canvassers (80% told us it was not our first time). That’s actually higher than any of us expected, we tend to think that the same volunteers show up every Saturday.
43% of our volunteers are African-American. 28% self-identify as Hispanic and 22% as Caucasian.
We asked our volunteers why they came out to canvass, and we got a whole bunch of answers. 41% of them said the reason they came out was to beat Trump. 33% said they came out to protect Reproductive Rights or Healthcare. Remember, Hope Springs from Field is knocking on doors in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Texas right now. 27% said the reason they came out was to Mobilize Democrats or Voters. 26% said they wanted to Defend Democracy. Another 23% said it was for Community Outreach. 19% said that Protecting the Vote was why they came out to canvass and 19% said they wanted to Register Voters. 17% mentioned the Issues Survey as why they came out, and 17% said it was because of our Constituent Service Request forms. 34% mentioned something else, or Other.
As you can see, this was a fill-in-the-blank survey, so, not surprisingly, the numbers add up to more than 100%.
We asked volunteers what aspect of this approach most appeals to them, and, again, got a plethora of responses. The largest response was our questions about incumbent job approval. 29% of our volunteers responded that the Candidate Survey appeals to them. 28% said it was our Constituent Service Request forms. We do know that when voters tell them that a neighborhood request got addressed, it excites both the volunteers and the voters. 26% said the Issues Survey and most of our volunteers admit that voters think about Issues differently than they do. For some of our volunteers, it is incredibly revealing. Voter Registration came in 4th, at 23%. 19% said it was our Voter Driven or Led Discussion through the Issue Survey, 17% said it was our question about Voter’s Single Issue and 14% said it was our solicitation for Incident Reports. Finally, 11% of our volunteers mentioned it was the “6 second rule,” which isn’t universally described that way, but some of our organizers use the term to indicate how long volunteers should stay at a door they knocked on before leaving if they don’t hear or see any indication that there is someone home.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors again on March 2nd in a grassroots-led effort to prepare the 2024 Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First and Second Rounds of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are knocking on the doors of Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up) and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization2024
Hope Springs from Field understands that repeated face to face interactions are critical. And we are among those who believe that Democrats didn’t do as well in the 2020 Congressional races as expected because we didn’t knock on doors — and we didn’t register new voters — while Republicans did. We are returning to these old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are. Mentoring those who need it (like first time and newly registered voters). Reminding, reminding, reminding, and then chasing down those voters whose ballots need to be (and can be) cured.
We asked our volunteers how committed they are to in person voter contact this year. 28% of our volunteers said they were very or highly committed to it, 19% said they were committed. 24% were neutral on these question. 15% said they weren’t committed to it, and 11% said they weren’t very committed to personal voter contact this year. At least they were honest about it. One of our organizers, who knows their volunteers better, said that they were surprised about these answers, because some of their weekly or steady volunteers weren’t very committed to in person voter contact. “Even though they’ve been doing it every week.” I blame the question writer (me).
We asked our volunteers how often they planned on canvassing this year. 18% said Every Weekend (none of our volunteers, and not even all our organizers, have shown up every weekend). 31% told us As Often As Possible. 15% admitted they would come out Occasionally and another 11% said, basically, Once a Month. 2% said they planned to come out A Couple of Times this year. 19% said they weren’t sure. 2% said something else or other.
I know i was most interested in the Age ranges of our volunteers. I’m not very good at deducing people’s age, and some of the topics we discuss (eg, Climate Change) can become centered on who we are talking to. 11% of our volunteers said they were between the ages of 18-29. To be honest, if we were asking closer to Summertime, we’d have to lower that age range because we do have children of volunteers show up, at least one is 11. Our largest age group, 38%, is 30-44. 36% said they were between the ages of 45-64. 8% admitted they were over the age of 65+.
56% of our volunteers said they were Female and 41% said they were Male.
78% of our volunteers said they approved of the job President Biden was doing; 9% said they disapproved. I admit, the latter is higher than i would have expected.
We asked our volunteers how they identify themselves politically or ideologically. 53% of our volunteers called themselves Democrats. 33% of our volunteers called themselves Progressive. 29% said they were Liberal. 28% considered themselves Moderates. 8% self-identified as Conservative (!) and 2 (out of 1411) said they were Centrists. I won’t even start to explain that, other than to observe we are clearly getting all kinds! Remember that an overwhelming percentage of our volunteers came from Obama lists generated by our organizers. We are getting friends of volunteers and even have found volunteers at their doors, but Obama lists tended to be the origins of our current volunteer list.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2024, as well as districts that are remapped in ways that offer opportunities or vulnerabilities for Democrats next year (specifically those where a Republican won a Congressional District that voted for Biden in 2022). There is a lot of work to be done! Especially since we have had to expand the map this year.
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with these really, really onerous provisions, Hope Springs from Field seeks to undermine Republican efforts to throw Democrats off the voter rolls, informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them. There’s a lot of work to be done, but fortunately, the three states that are making it most difficult are also states in which you can knock on doors at least 10 months out of the year. And, with your help, we will be there, getting our people to super-comply with these restrictive provisions.
We are also — this being an election year — adding the Post Cards to New Voters component back into our Voter Outreach, both New Voters we find at their doors as well as New Voters we target in the Voter File.
Our biggest expense is the Voter File. But it is also a fixed cost. That won’t change as we raise and spend more money. Printing literature is our second largest cost. Printing and mailing our our Post Cards to New Voters is our third cost and paying the fees for ActBlue is the smallest of our monthly costs.
Hope Springs is a seat-of-the-pants grassroots-driven operation. We don’t have employees but we realize that to formalize and professionalize this effort that will have to change.
If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization2024
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!