The Top Issue volunteers found this week in Virginia was Economic Uncertainty. Voters just aren’t yet confident about where we are going in the economic realm, but they recognize that their fears haven’t been realized (as, apparently, they expected they would be). The second most frequent concern was about the upcoming School Year. Not sure why this is an urgent issue facing the nation, but it was something voters were clearly thinking about. Third was Reproductive Healthcare. Voters recognize that Abortion is critical to this election, and their responses reflect this.
In Virginia, 53% of the voters we talked to approved of the job President Biden was doing; 6% Disapproved. 67% approved of the job Senator Kaine was doing while 5% disapproved. 15% approved of the job that Governor Youngkin was doing. 37% disapproved of Youngkin’s performance. In Virginia, governors can’t run for re-election, which is why Gov. Youngkin’s been sniffing around the presidential race. But he needs a “victory” in November to show GOP primary voters that he can win over voters who are dismayed by the recent turn of their party. Democratic and Independent voters continue to bring that up to our volunteers.
Volunteers registered 8 new voters and re-registered 21 voters. We differentiate between the two because brand new voters are often ignored by campaigns and we are currently asking for volunteers to send three postcards to New Voters before the election (they will also be getting robocalls thanking them for registering, etc). But registering voters is a primary rationale behind early canvassing, and turning out voters, especially those that have just been registered is a core mission for Hope Springs from Field. (If you are interested, please sign up!.)
94 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. In general, we send these to Democratic elected officials responsible for the requested functions, but if the appropriate office is held by a Republican, we still send it along. For Democrats, though, we encourage them to reach out immediately to the voter who filled out the CSR and let them know they are working on the issue. This credit-taking is enormously valuable to the Democratic office-holder.
This week, we are focused on GOTV in Ohio to defeat the onerous Issue 1. Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors in Ohio since May 6th in a grassroots 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 canvassing Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only do 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), GOTV and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hope4ohio
Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do.
In North Carolina, GOP determination to suppress voters who don’t think like Republicans are matched by our own, and we are witnessing voter eagerness to return to normalcy. “These people are crazy.”
This is Hope Springs third year knocking on doors in North Carolina and we are witnessing the effects of GOP voter intimidation at the doors (and from our partner Black churches in the state). The new voter photo ID laws are shocking to many voters we talk to. This month we added more than a dozen Black churches who wanted to join our efforts to get their voters free Photo IDs.
So far, we have found 942 voters at the doors who told us they need photo IDs at their doors. 85% of them are Black voters and 90% are non-white voters. 59% of these voters are older and many will need help in collecting the documentation needed.
That is not the only issue we face. We know that many Republican legislators want to re-district (again) in this cycle to take away Democratic seats in Congress. So Hope Springs from Field has expanded our door to door efforts in North Carolina, even as we continue our focus on NC-01, NC-06, NC-13 and NC-14 in an effort to protect those seats.
347 volunteers knocked on doors in eight North Carolina counties last Saturday. They knocked on 25,955 doors and they talked to 1,951 voters. 1,204 of these voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey.
The Top 3 Issues canvassers found in North Carolina were first, Healthcare Costs. The Economy was second. “I wish I could feel more secure” about economic growth and prosperity, one voter told a volunteer (these are kinds of things volunteers write down on their observa-tion forms). Crime was third, “even though they say that crime rates are failing, people are still talking about it.” The need to feel safe, especially now, is pervasive.
Biden’s Approval number among the Democratic and unaffiliated voters we talked to was 51%; remember, try to weed out Republican households in our walk lists, so these numbers basically don’t include any Republicans. Disapproval was 10%. We also continue to find more than 40% of the voters we talk to on Saturdays have no idea who their senators were or had any kind of impression of them (while we are asking about voter approval of senators not on the ballot, we aren’t really tracking these numbers).
55% of the voters we talked to on Saturday approved of the job Governor Roy Cooper is doing; 7% expressed disapproval.
Hope Springs from Field volunteers registered 8 new voters and re-registered 38 voters to comply with the HAVA laws. 99 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. These are passed along to Democratic office holders, when possible, but to the appropriate office, if not we get them to the appropriate office holder. 1 voter completed an Incident Report detailing what they could remember from an incident they witnessed of voter intimidation or suppression. We follow these up to fill in whatever blanks voters leave in the report.
We knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters. At every door, we leave a piece of “show the flag” lit, something that tells them we were there and hopefully reinforces the Democratic brand. The lit focuses on the things voters told us were important to them last fall, aiming to appeal to every voter.
But the main focus of our canvassing right now is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. Voter responses to the questionnaire are entered into VAN and made available to all Democratic candidates who use VAN in the state after Labor Day. Creating this kind of data isn’t done with a specific goal in mind but has the purpose of engaging voters and creating a dataset that any Democratic candidate can use in opposition to a Republican.
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with these really, really onerous provisions, Hope Springs from Field PAC seeks to undermine that strategy, while informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them.
If you are able to donate to our efforts to fight against Issue 1, identify abortion rights supporters, protect our voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and turn out the vote please donate:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hope4ohio
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!