How To Get Your Friends Involved in Politics
Politics is less frightening when you have a friend to do it with. Get one or more people to participate with you and you’ll be a master of politics in no time.
I talked to Lindsey Cormack, Director of DCinbox, and a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology about engaging members of your community. She has studied peer-to-peer engagement and how it can be used to get people involved in politics. “Peer to peer is the most effective method [to get someone to participate in politics], we know that interacting with a human is far more engaging than receiving a mass-email or phone call. The last 50 years of research shows us that person to person is the best way to make lasting change.”
You have the power to make a difference, and all it takes is talking to people you already know. So, how can you get your friends and family involved?
Use Social Media:
With very little effort, use social media to make a difference. Just post about voting — it’s that simple! People are inspired to vote when their friends vote. A study published in Nature investigated the power of peer pressure to get people to vote. In this study, Facebook users were divided into 3 groups. In the “social group,” participants saw a message encouraging them to vote with pictures of their friends who also voted. In the “information group” participants saw the same message but with no pictures of their friends. The final group was a control group that didn’t see any message. The “social group” had the highest turnout rate of the three groups, and the turnout rate of the “information group” was nearly identical to the control group. So the next time you vote, post about it! Even if just one of your followers changes their minds and votes that day, you’ve made a big difference.
Talk About Voting:
Posting about voting is effective, but peer to peer is driven by genuine human connections, and there’s nothing more genuine than having a conversation. The most effective tool to change someone’s voting habits is to ask your friends how they’ll vote instead of if they’ll vote. In many cases, people don’t vote because they don’t have a plan. Asking them about their plan will force them to make one (or admit they don’t have one yet).
If they say they don’t have a plan yet, help them make one. First, check if they’re registered (if they’re not, they can get registered on the same site). Then, determine when the next election is and help them mark the dates of the primary and general elections on their calendar. Ballotpedia is a great resource for state or federal races. Local races take a bit of effort to find the information you need, but your city’s website should be able to point you in the right direction (Hoboken’s Primary is on 6/8/2021 and the General Election is on 11/2/2021). Finally, vote together! Voting with friends or family is the best way to get out to the polls.
Be Their Guide:
The next step is to get your friends active in politics year-round, not just during election season. This is the type of peer-to-peer engagement that has the greatest impact on your community. To accomplish this, you’ll have to tailor your approach to each person. Cormack explains that “there is no part of our lives that escapes politics,” and suggests to “meet people where they are, find a place where their passions intersect politics, and they’ll have an easier time getting involved.” It’s better to demonstrate how their involvement in politics will impact something they care about than to try to convince them to care about something they are uninterested in.
The next step is to find an activity that you can do together. A specific task with a goal is easier to accomplish than something vague and daunting like “get involved in politics.” It can be as simple as writing letters together urging action be taken on something you both care about, attending a city council meeting, or joining an online group dedicated to something you both care about. And make it fun — meeting for coffee or a drink and working through these issues brings a positive social aspect to the “work.”
The final step is to get them hooked with a habit — ideally voting. We saw record turnout in the 2020 presidential election. It’s likely this election was the first time your friend voted (or the first time in a long time). Use this momentum and help them vote in the midterms or your next local race.
Be aware that you won’t be 100% effective, some of your friends won’t want to get involved. Cormack warns, “If you push someone too hard, you’re not going to convince them to help, and you might lose a friend in the process. It’s important to be persistent, but it’s also important to know when to stop.”
Everything is more fun when you do it with people you care about. Getting your friends involved will make politics more enjoyable for both of you. Additionally, democracy is strengthened when more people pay attention, participate, and vote. It is, as Lincoln proclaimed, a “government of, by and for the people.” You have the power to influence people in your life — get your friends, family, and peers involved in politics, and you’ll be doing your part to improve democracy.
