According to NBC News, Republican attempts to canvas are deeply flawed due to cheating (for example, sitting in a casino while reporting speaking to voters miles away), inefficiency and bad data, which possibly cost them them the last Senate election in Nevada. Why?
The problems, six people said, are pitfalls of the right’s increased reliance on paid canvassers rather than volunteers, and on a sprawling web of vendors and consultants tasked with what can be a thankless, though critical, job. Seven people said that cheating is on the rise amid pressure to quickly meet steep outreach goals.
Color me unsurprised: Republicans outsourced a critical task, and the companies contracted hired unreliable people to do the work. That they are likely underpaid goes without mention because it’s so likely it’s not worth mentioning.
But NBC News could have dug deeper into the bigger issue: Why can’t Republicans find volunteers to go door to door? Why do they have to fly in people from out of state instead of relying on locals, who would presumably be more trusted than, well, missionaries? The article does say that in Texas the churn on volunteers is tremendous thanks to the heat and grueling work of canvassing (insert joke re kitchen, getting out of, in comparison to white people saying they’re such hard workers). NBC News also notes:
Elsewhere, the former top RNC field official who cautioned that some of the concerns were overblown said they believe the “culture” in GOP campaigns is shifting away from volunteers for a number of reasons. One major one: when Trump is not on the ballot, many who would otherwise be eager to volunteer sit on the sidelines.
In other words, the Republicans have a major enthusiasm problem.
And one has to wonder: Are potential volunteers also worried that that by knocking on a stranger’s door they’ll be inviting the spooked homeowner to murder them in cold blood, just as they might kill a canvasser?