We are still finding our way in Michigan. Unlike our entrance in Ohio, where we had a couple of Clinton presidential campaign field organizers who have ably volunteered to lead canvassing there AND who had kept their volunteers lists, we are relying on word of mouth to find organizers there. We have gotten lucky in that some former Obama alums who had worked in Michigan still had volunteer lists but it has been a struggle. A lot of this goes back to 2008 and the attempt to make Michigan an early primary state. It still reverberates.
Hope Springs from Field PAC volunteers have been knocking on doors in Wisconsin since the beginning. Plenty of organizers who had been through the Obama campaigns, the Walker recall, Senate elections and more. But it’s a reminder that, even as Democratic party orgs in states like Michigan have improved considerably, they need constant renewal, consistently adding more activists to the power base, repeatedly trying to recruit new candidates, new staff and new voters.
We sometimes forget that we are the party of change, and, as the party of change (as slow as it can be) we renew our supporter’s HOPE in the party by that continual churn. Wish it weren’t so, but Republicans benefit by the fact that, as we get older, parts of our base grow more conservative. Even Millennials. So we have to always be growing, always be adding new voters, always be able to speak to, and speak for, these new voters. Democrats can’t rest on our laurels, if we want to win. Expanding our base has to be an essential element of presidential and even statewide victories. In other words, stagnation is not our friend.
If you hadn’t noticed, i tend to make the state where we had the most volunteers show up on our Saturday canvassing first up to bat. So: 307 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, as well as Kenosha, Waukesha (although we did not canvass these two last week) and Dane counties. The key Democratic and swing areas of this Senate Swing State.
In everybody’s minds, Wisconsin is one of the most important states in the Electoral College and maintaining a Democratic majority in the Senate. Recent Supreme Court rulings have made it doubly so. And our volunteers understand just how important is the state. On Saturday, Volunteers knocked on 22,810 doors and talked to 1,717 voters. 1020 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey.
Volunteers found the perception about a Tightening Economy was the Top Concern among the Wisconsin voters we talked to in Wisconsin (again). The rising Cost of (Prescription) Drugs was the second most frequently cited concern. Reproductive Healthcare was the third most frequently mentioned issue. One of our Wisconsin volunteers told her organizer that she “always likes it when I find another Abortion Voter!”
Joe Biden’s Approval numbers in Wisconsin to rose to 54% last Saturday; his Disapproval number was 8%. Senator Baldwin’s Job Approval was 61% with 5% of the voters we talked to on Saturday expressing Disapproval. Approval of Governor Evers, meanwhile, was 52%; Disapproval was 10% last Saturday. Several voters asked if Tammy had an opposition yet. So (some) people are paying attention.
Hope Springs from Field volunteers registered 5 new voters. 29 more voters updated their voter registration to comply with federal law. We differentiate between new voters registered and existing voters re-registering because we plan to continue our New Voter Postcard effort, and even add Voter Video Chains this cycle.
57 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.
2 voters filled out Incident Reports, both in Milwaukee, about issues they witnessed in a prior election. We continue to see voters who want to fill out an Incident Report but realize they didn’t actually witness something to report. Nevada and North Carolina seem to lead the states where we canvass in this regard. We have been building a database of Incident Reports, and reports we collected in Nevada have been used successfully to request a time extension for voters before a polling precinct closed.
Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors since March 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 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/fistfulofsteel
Hope Springs from Field PAC 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.
298 volunteers came out to knock on doors in 10 canvasses in Michigan last Saturday. The grey Congressional Districts (3, 7 & 8) on the map to the right represent most of where we are targeting, but we also knocked on doors in MI-10 and MI-11 on Saturday. We also plan to walk in MI-04 this Summer and target minority neighborhoods in the Detroit area in the future. Hope Springs volunteers knocked on 21,545 doors last Saturday and talked to 1,622 voters. 950 of those voters answered questions to at least part of the Issues Survey.
The Economy was the most frequent response to our question about voter’s top concern on Saturday in Michigan. Housing Costs was the second most frequent response. We continue to find voters complaining about housing one way or another, not just in Michigan. Political stability was third, and there are voters who use that very term. “We live on a tinderbox here.”
Biden Approval among the Michiganders we talked to was at 53% last Saturday and 9% expressed some measure of Disapproval. 60% of the voters who responded Approved of the job Gov. Whitmer was doing while 8% expressed Disapproval. Lots of voters have told us that their governor “is a star.” People even beam when we ask about her.
41 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. We send completed CSRs 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 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.
Volunteers registered 6 new voters and re-registered 32 voters in compliance with Federal (HAVA) 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.
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 the primary. 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.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2024, as well as Congressional 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 PAC seeks to undermine that strategy, while informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them.
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/fistfulofsteel
Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!