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. 

No Canvassers for Trump

 

At all the houses I canvassed, I saw one piece of Trump literature

Several times when I canvassed on weekends, I ran into other canvassers.  They were always Democrats.  Usually, I was canvassing for a Congressional or State candidate and the other canvasser was out for Harris-Walz.  We made sure to avoid overlap so as not to knock on the same door twice in five minutes.  

But I never ran into a Trump canvasser.  In fact, I saw only one piece of Trump literature on a porch the whole time I canvassed.  In some neighborhoods, I would see several pieces of literature left under a mat or near a door I was canvassing.  The literature could be for Harris-Walz or other candidates, but it was there.  

I listened to Holly Otterbein, a Pennsylvania political reporter talk about strife within the PA Republican Party over canvassing.  She said the party traditional organized canvassing, but the national party had hired Elon Musk to control the canvassing and it was not getting done.  That certainly agreed with what I saw. No literature. No canvassers.  

If Harris-Walz win Pennsylvania that lack of canvassing may be a factor.  I can only hope.

Canvassing in Monoculture Neighborhoods

 

Multifamily homes I canvassed were multicultural.  Every sort of American lives there. 

But when I canvassed neighborhoods with single-family homes with two-car garages, the demographics were very different. As I mentioned in other posts I get the name, age and party affiliation of the voter.  In multifamily homes I often had the names of both members of a couple, or even a couple plus an older parent or adult child.  

But in single-family suburban homes, I often had just one name, almost always a women.  And if someone answered the door, it was often a man of about the same age. Which means that man was not a Democrat.  Assuming he was a voter, he was Republican or a Republican-leaning Independent.  

I asked for the voter by name. She was "not available." I would say I was asking her to vote for the candidate.  The guy said he would tell her, or say "We're not interested."  Door shuts.

The age of the voter and the couple was often 40s to 50s.  Kids were often hovering around the parent who answered the door.  While the couples in these houses were mostly white, there was one interesting exception.

It was a neighborhood of single-family houses, all built since 2021 on two parallel streets named for Ivy League colleges. All of the families on the first street were South Asian.  All of them.  The voter lists had three or four generations of voters. On the porch were shoes of kids and adults.  

I skipped three houses, which means they were probably Republicans--the entire family. But the shoes and the Hindu blessings on the doors said they were South Asian also.

On the second street it was mostly South Asian families plus a few Black and East Asian families. 

Canvassing is fascinating just for the demographics. 

Canvassing Shows Just How Multicultural South Central Pennsylvania Neighborhoods Are

 

In suburban York, Lancaster, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, I have canvassed in neighborhoods with multi-unit new homes like the one in the photo above.  I did not want to take a picture where I canvassed. This is from Google. 

The names in my canvassing app show just how many races and ethnicities live next to each other.  Often these multi-unit dwellings have eight homes per building.  In that building are White, Black and Hispanic families; east, west and south Asian families; and families from Africa and the Caribbean.  

Since I only canvass homes with Democratic or Independent voters, I know which homes vote Republican because I walk past them. Many of these families are single party households--which is also interesting because of their age demographics.  The residents of these neighborhoods are mostly in their late 20s to early 40s or past retirement age.  The residents are either in their first home or a post-retirement down-sizing home. 

A woman in her 30s I spoke to in suburban York county told me she and her husband were voting in person and would be voting a straight democratic ticket.  She said the rules of the development don't allow yard signs which is why she did not have a Harris sign out front.  She thought it was for the best, because she didn't want to see Trump signs.  When there are signs, they are often in opposition to neighbors as I noted here.

As I wrote earlier, these neighborhoods are very quiet--much more quiet that my own neighborhood. Which means there is no overt politic strife. In rural and Urban Pennsylvania, there are certainly areas that are more monocultural, but in the  multi-unit housing suburban neighborhoods I have been walking in, America is very multi-cultural.

The more upscale, large single-family houses are different. I'll write about them next. 

Canvassing Empty Streets and Sidewalks: No One is Outside

 

In six weeks of canvassing, I have knocked on a thousand doors in cities and suburbs across south central Pennsylvania.  I walked empty streets and sidewalks between those houses.  

Empty.

It was not the weather. I canvas in the daytime. Generally the temperature was between high 60s and mid 70s. Wonderful weather.  

No kids. No walkers. No runners. No bicyclists. Just the occasional driver with windows closed of course.  

Is it social media?  I can't tell, but it seems like a good explanation.  I spend two or three hours in neighborhood.  If anyone was going to walk, run, ride, play games, sit on the porch or something else outside the house, I am likely to have seen them.  

Some of the houses I canvas have kids in the family. They peek out of the windows when I ring the bell or cling to mom's leg while she talks to me. But I have not seen kids outside.  

A couple of times as I walked down sunlit empty streets I thought "The Last of Us" and other dystopian stories.  Whole neighborhoods with no sign of life. 

My Exceptional Neighborhood

By contrast, my own neighborhood in Lancaster city has walkers, runners, cyclists, people that sit outside, kids, dog walkers and other signs of live community. If there is a social media plague keeping everyone inside, I'm glad I live in a place with social media antibodies.  

I'll be knocking on doors until the election; I will definitely write if I find a neighborhood besides my own with signs of life. 

Signs of the Times: As I Canvass for Candidates I See the Parties in their Signs

 

Recently, I was canvassing on a lovely day in a suburban Philadelphia district divided very closely between left and right. The houses I visited were all in a township that has a "No Solicitation" law. Violations can result in a fine of $375-$1,000. 

A few of the "No Solicitation" houses had a black box near that door that announced "You are under video surveillance" as I approached. One woman opened the door to ask, "Did you not understand the no solicitation sign?"  I replied that the law does not cover free speech including political speech. She shut the door.

It did not affect my canvassing because political and religious solicitation is exempt. 

I passed many houses with signs for democratic candidates and others with signs for republican candidates.

The only houses I passed with "No Solicitation" signs posted on the door that were identifiable as one party or the other were Republican. 

Last week I walked past two houses in Lancaster side by side on a city street. Both houses had two signs out front. The first house had a "Harris-Walz" sign and another that said "Love Thy Neighbor." The second had a "Trump-Vance” sign and another that said "No Trespassing."