Democrats! It’s time to start believing talking to voters wins elections
by Kristina DeGiovanni, Editor at Mobilize America
Since November, everyone seems to have their own diagnosis for the Democratic Party’s problems. We’ve lost touch with middle America, we don’t have a coherent economic message, we watch too much liberal FAKE NEWS (!).
Instead of discussing ad-nauseum what Democrats aren’t good at, we might be better advised to start talking about what we know actually wins elections: talking to voters.
Consider Virginia, which will be electing all 100 of its state Delegates, as well as its Governor, this November 7th.
In the recent June 13th primary, House of Delegates District 13 Democratic challenger Danica Roem was outspent by two other Democrats, but came away with a 12 point victory.
Roem won by enlisting volunteers to knock on over 8,000 potential voters’ doors and engage them in conversation, and by spending hours each day talking to voters herself — even leaving handwritten notes at houses when no one was home. Given Roem’s success in voter contact in the primary, it’s no surprise that her plan for winning in November is to “wildly out-organize” her opponent, a particularly well-funded and particularly bigoted Republican incumbent.
Roem’s success makes perfect sense in the context of the mountain of research that’s been done on the impact of voter contact. Studies have consistently demonstrated that individual conversations — either in-person or over the phone — are vital tools for persuading voters to support a particular candidate, and for getting them to turn out on election day.
One study showed that, on average, volunteers were likely to turn out one new vote for every 12 successful face-to-face conversations that had with voters. On the other hand, traditional tactics are not nearly as effective — direct mail, for example, only makes about a 1% difference among persuadable voters.
Unfortunately, down-ballot candidates continue to underinvest in field, with many still spending most of their time and money on direct mail.
This is a missed opportunity, since field tactics like canvassing and phone banking are especially effective in local elections like Roem’s, where voters typically have little information on candidates, and races are often decided by fewer than 1,000 votes.
What’s more, in-person volunteer-driven voter contact is far cheaper than many more traditional forms of voter contact. Door-to-door canvassing has been shown to cost a mere $17 per new vote, while television ads can cost $68. Even non-partisan get-out-the-vote tactics are expensive — mailers telling people that it is their “civic duty” to vote cost $50 per new voter.
When Democrats are the ones that stand the most to gain, there is no explanation for our glaring underinvestment in voter contact tactics that are proven to win.
The question of how to scale voter outreach programs is a pressing one, given the massive potential impact. Answering it should start with equipping campaigns with the organizing and volunteer power they need to talk to more voters than ever before. Democrats have debated how to win back local and national seats for months, and there’s no one clear answer. But this is a great place to start.
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For information on how to take action in upcoming elections like in Virginia, download the Mobilize America mobile app!
