Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Canvassing in the 21st Century

 

The losing political campaign is in the midst of a huge blame game.  One of the critics of the campaign spoke with derision about all the people knocking on doors.  "Who answers their door to talk to a stranger," he asked. He was right. 

People asked me how many minds I changed.  None.  My mission was to remind Democrats to vote, not to change the minds of Republicans. In part, that's because I talked to so few people. 

No one is outside in suburban neighborhoods.  And 9 out of 10 people don't answer the door.  As the election neared, the few people I talked to had already voted or had a plan to vote.  The people I talked to who had not voted or planned to vote did not know who to vote for.  Or did not plan to vote at all.  For these registered democrats both candidates were the same. Or voting was worthless.

I wrote several posts about the experience of canvassing, but the most important to the election result was Empty Streets.

If anything was going to convince people to vote, it was certainly someone on social media.  A canvasser is so 20th Century. Or maybe 19th. 



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