The Biden campaign, as it is elsewhere, is utilizing the existing Wisconsin Democratic resources. The WisDems are one of the strongest state party orgs the Democrats have, although i’m not sure that’s a high bar. Even if it was, the reality is that the WisDems are an incredible state party organization. They are one of the reasons why Wisconsin was the only state where Joe Biden wasn’t trailing in a recent Wall Street Journal survey. A poll released Wednesday by the Marquette Law School found Tammy Baldwin leading Eric Hovde by 5 points among registered voters, while the two were tied among those who said they were absolutely certain to vote. That’s where we started from.
374 volunteers came out to canvass in Wisconsin on Saturday. Like last year, we continue to canvass in Milwaukee (where we are canvassing in African-American wards) and its suburbs (the WOW counties), as well as Kenosha, Waukesha and Dane counties. The key Democratic and swing areas of this Senate Swing State. Hope Springs volunteers knocked on 26,628 doors and talked to 2,102 voters. 1,365 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey.
The Economy was the Top Concern among the Wisconsin voters we talked to on Saturday. Reproductive Freedom or Rights was the second most frequently cited concern. Concern over the Israeli incursion in Gaza and the related Campus Protests was third, one of three states where that concern rose to the level of the Top 3 Issues.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors again on March 2nd in a grassroots-led effort to prepare the Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First and Second Rounds of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are taking those efforts to 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 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.
Joe Biden’s Approval numbers in Wisconsin was 53% last Saturday, slightly lower than when we left the field last year. His Disapproval number was 5%. Senator Baldwin’s Job Approval was 57% with 4% of the voters we talked to on Saturday expressing Disapproval. Approval of Governor Evers, meanwhile, was 51%; Disapproval was 9% last Saturday.
Hope Springs from Field volunteers registered 15 new voters, some of who were newly able to register. 27 more voters updated their voter registration to comply with federal law. Again, we note that we differentiate between the new voters and existing voters because the former can often be forgotten (or clumped together with their family) during GOTV and first time voters need special care! And Hope Springs will again engage in special GOTV efforts aimed at getting young new voters to the polls next year.
69 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. We send completed CSRs to Democratic elected officials responsible for the requested functions, but if there are no Democrats who can further the request, and 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 Constituent Service Request forms and let them know they are working on the issue. This credit-taking is enormously valuable to the Democratic office-holder.
1 voter filled out an Incident Report about issues they witnessed in a prior election. 2 other voter expressed concerns about the 2024 elections but did not fill out incident reports because they didn’t witness voter suppression or intimidation (they just expressed concerns or worries about them). Incident Reports are used to plan Election Protection activities, and will be combined with other, historical incidents and handed over to District and State Attorneys, Attorney Generals and the DoJ Civil Rights Division right before Election Day as a precaution against Election Day Incidents in November. Past polling place activity is a predictor of future voter intimidation or suppression activity.