Personal conversations have the greatest impact on voter turnout because they are interactive and focused. When someone answers the phone or their door, you have their attention. You can share your enthusiasm in the tone of your voice. If you knock on their door, they can see, hear and touch the campaign. They can see you smile. They can read your candidate button or sticker. They can touch the campaign literature you hand them.
"Face-to-face contact seems to be the most effective tactic, raising turnout by 7-12 percentage points among those who are contacted." -- Dr. Donald Green, Yale University, author of GET OUT THE VOTE! How to Increase Voter Turnout
Many people will think, if this person is willing to dedicate their time to this, the candidate can't be all bad. A voter remembers this kind of interaction better than any other approach. They may not remember what you say but they will remember how you make them feel.
Face to face conversations are best but the advantage of making calls is you can reach about three times the number of people in about the same amount of time. Also, some people won't answer their door but will answer the phone and vice versa. The point is to make a personal connection with as many voters as possible.
Political TV and radio ads, mailers and online advertising go in one direction and have practically no lasting impact on voters. Personal conversations do. This is how we win tough elections and flip gerrymandered districts.
"Research shows that almost half of all political ads are completely ignored and those that are watched do not change opinions... The effects of campaign ads are easily countered... Money spent on ads is very short-lived... Even during a campaign, advertising spending has almost no lasting impact." -- Matthew Sheffield, editor Praxis, Do Political Ads Work? Research Suggests Not Really
Too many of us think they need to know every talking point and answer to every question before they can begin talking to voters and that is not true. The main thing we need to know is: Will the voter be voting in the upcoming election and do they know who they will be voting for yet. Once we know this, the rest is easy. Some of us think we will be expected to get into debates or arguments with voters and that is not true either. It’s rare but any negative response from a voter should be met with "thank you for your time, please have a nice day" and move on to the next voter. We don't want volunteers wasting their time on that.
You will be one of 5-7 people who talk to that voter and if they need persuasion, they will be contacted by campaign staff or other experienced canvassers. The important thing is to have conversations with as many voters as possible and the more practice you get, the better you get. Talking to voters also develops good life skills that will help you in other parts of your life. Knocking on doors is also good exercise, even if you don't talk to a single voter. Once you try it and see how effective it is to talk to voters, the odds are good that you will become a regular canvasser.
Please share your best ideas on how to recruit and train more volunteers to talk to voters in the comments below.